From 25 to 29 October, Christian Noack visited Spa in Belgium, one of the successful bidders for UNESCO World heritage status in the framework of the ‘Great Spa of Europe’ application. With the helpful support of M. Marc Joseph from the local history association Histoire et Archéologie Spadoises and the kind advice of Mme Chantal Fourneau at the local archive I have been seeing interesting source material from the late 18^th, 19^th and 20^th centuries on the development of the casinos at spa, on the role of local doctors and entrepreneurs, on the improvement of urban infrastructure and, last not least, the development of ‘social thermalism’ by the Belgian health insurance system after WW II.

For the end of October, the weather was very nice and before and after the working in the archive I managed to see that important restauration work was going on in the city, above all a reconstruction of the 19^th century iron-and-glass-structure of promenade in the Parc de Sept Heures and of the 1880 bath house. I also did a few hikes in the surroundings, visiting the most famous ‘pouhons’ (sources) above the city and the fens, an important water reservoir for some of the springs.

Marc Joseph also facilitated a meeting with Mme Anne Pirard of the city administration of Spa, who among other things is tasked with Spa’s participation in the UNESCO bid. A planned visit to the Museum of the town, unfortunately had to be deferred due to the illness of my correspondent. But this has definitely not been my last visit to Spa!