© Centre des Arts - Enghien-les-Bains
Enghien-les-Bains is located in the suburbs to the north of Paris. Around the water , and thanks to the water, the town was developed at the end of the 19th century around an 110-hectare lake. Today, how else do we imagine that it has seen the activity of millers and eel fishermen, it has seen beautiful women in ice skates and the arrival of Alexandre Dumas at the home of Princess Mathilde, the various casinos one after the other, and the great thermal establishment built in the middle of the 19th century, other than in the tales, on the prints or in the photography started by Nadar? This town surfs on a wave of history, where important people arranged to meet at a given time and yet they rightly allowed themselves to believe that the town was outside time. However, in this town digital art mixes with fairground art and the invisible cities are taking on the notion of floating worlds. But a little paradox will not stop it. It is indeed possible to retain from this long history the fact that it got its name from its sulphuric-water spring, yet significant works over these last twenty years have made possible to ensure the water’s highest quality of health, and to add a non-sulphuric spring, named Iris, which irrigates new sporting and wellness activities at Spark.
Enghien-les-Bains
THEY WERE THERE...
“27 August: In Enghien, my aunt Mathilde introduced me to Coppée and I have the most burning desire to become friends with him, sure that we would agree on a many things. I am indeed lacking a confidant with whom to share my musings on literature, a critic, a judge. I know only flatterers and the indifferent; in this regard, naturally.”
Giuseppe-Napoleone Primoli, nephew of Princess Mathilde Bonaparte
“The spa towns are fertile, and feed all myths and all the interpretations. At cocktail hour, when one dresses for the evening and applies the last coats of colour to their face, when twilight descends, that is the time of whispered stories, tales of mystery told in obscurity. We talk about the adventures of Rousseau in Enghien, when a society of women held salons on the lake’s edge, or Lamartine’s adventure in Aix.”
Eric Orsena, Writer
“It is done. I had wanted to visit Enghien-les-Bains with the new iPhone app, which had been announced during the Café of Europe. I did the test that I had wanted to do for a long time, and that the PUBLISHER had recommended to me; that of diving into the past of the casino, isolating myself, hidden from view and remaining the narrator long enough to tell him what the Centre des Arts found in terms of controlling time.”
VALERY Source
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PRACTICAL INFORMATION
City of Enghien-les-Bains website
81, rue du Général de Gaulle - 95880 Enghien-les-Bains
Tel: +33 (0)1 34 12 41 15
Centre des Arts d'Enghien-les-Bains
