Kurstädte / abandoned spa towns - Lower and Upper Franconia 2015

Spa towns once attracted many thousand people annually. Families, young and old went there to cure stress, traumas and illnesses and to breath the healthy air of the salines. Three weeks per year prescribed by the doctor, payed by the health insurance. This suddenly changed in the year 1996 when a nationwide health reform was implemented. The austerity measures included that the health insurances no longer paid for the cure vacation. For most spa towns this initiated an economic downfall which lines up with the wider trend of depopulation, desertification and lack of financial means in many rural regions.

The shown photographs were taken in abandoned spa towns in Lower and the Upper Franconia (State of Bavaria) in 2015.

A special thanks to my dear friend Bastian Denner who let me have an insight into this strange world.