The king of lighthouses and the lighthouse of kings, Cordouan lighthouse, made its debut this Saturday as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. So decided by the branch of the United Nations in charge of cultural and educational questions. The Cordouan lighthouse is located at the mouth of the Gironde estuary, between the departments of Gironde and Charente-Maritime. “The great water towns of Europe”, flagships of European hydrotherapy, very popular between the beginning of the 18th century and the beginning of the 20th century, also made the list this Saturday.
Seven countries had jointly submitted this registration dossier for eleven of their cities: Bad Ems, Baden-Baden, Bad Kissingen (Germany); Baden bei Wien (Austria); Spa (Belgium); Vichy (France); Montecatini Terme (Italy); Bath (United Kingdom); Franzensbad, Karlovy Vary and Marienbad (Czech Republic). The Heritage Committee recognized the universal value of these towns which, although “different”, “developed around mineral water sources, which were the catalyst for a model of spatial organization dedicated to curative functions, therapeutic, recreational and social ”.
A testimony of the European thermal phenomenon
These “waters” have given these towns their cachet, by combining therapeutic activities with leisure activities, in an environment made up of urban parks and walks popular with spa visitors, but also theaters and concert halls, for example. They presented “an important exchange of innovative ideas which influenced the development of medicine, balneotherapy and leisure activities”.
“The large spa towns of Europe constitute an exceptional testimony to the European thermal phenomenon, which has its roots in Antiquity, but which reached its peak between around 1700 and the 1930s”, underlines the draft Declaration of universal value, adopted on Saturday, during a live broadcast session.
The second lighthouse in the list
The Cordouan lighthouse is the last inhabited sea lighthouse in France. The imposing frustoconical tower of light stone, which marks the entrance to the largest estuary in Europe, between Verdon-sur-Mer (Gironde) and Royan (Charente-Maritime) for four hundred years, is thus the second lighthouse registered on its list by Unesco, after that of La Coruña in Spain. Wanted by Henry III to replace an old English fire tower, built under Henry IV and enhanced under Louis XVI, the lighthouse was inaugurated in 1611.
The French Minister of Culture, Roselyne Bachelot, welcomed these announcements. The World Heritage Committee is meeting online until July 31 under the chairmanship from Fuzhou (China) of Tian Xuejun, Chinese Vice Minister of Education and President of the Chinese National Commission for Unesco for its annual session.