Thalasso de Royan

Thalasso de Royan in Charente-Maritime, France, offers iodine-rich Atlantic thalassotherapy in France's most architecturally remarkable post-war seaside resort—Royan was almost entirely destroyed by Allied bombing in January 1945 in one of the controversial final actions of the Second World War, and was subsequently rebuilt in its entirety between 1945 and 1955 in a unified modernist architectural style that makes it one of the purest examples of post-war architectural reconstruction in Europe, with the Notre-Dame de Royan church (designed by Guillaume Gillet and Edgar Pillet) representing one of the masterworks of mid-twentieth century brutalist church architecture. The iodine-rich Atlantic waters used in the thalassotherapy reflect the mineral richness of the Gironde estuary mouth, where the Atlantic Ocean and France's greatest river system meet in a marine environment of exceptional tidal and mineral complexity. The modernist architectural heritage and Atlantic thalassotherapy mineral tradition create a Royan experience of unique cultural and therapeutic depth.