Architectural Giants in Baltic Spa Towns. Druskinkai, Jurmala, and Pärnu

This paper focuses on spa towns in Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia - namely Druskininka Jurmala and Pärnu – which, in the Soviet period (1940-1990), were converted into mass healing and rehabilitation centres. In the new political context, the spa industry was institutionalized, becoming part of the centralized health-care system accessible to all. This transition marked the emergence of large-scale sanatoriums, often located in areas of great landscape beauty along the coast or close to mineral springs, providing rehabilitation and medical treatments (i.e. balneotherapy and hydrotherapy) based on strong scientific evidence and up-to-date healing practices. While each specific location of dictated particular rehabilitation goals, sanatoriums tended to resemble hospitals, both for their scale and the accommodation level. Their architecture only partly reflected the evolution of technical and aesthetic criteria throughout the Soviet period, shifting from high modernism to massive hybrid buildings often classified as “postmodern.” Whether still abandoned or adapted to new functions, these imposing structures continue to shape the local urban identities