ABSTRACT
Social and diplomatic conventions inspired various uses of spas. Ambassadors overcome by diplomatic illness disappeared into spas to avert a crisis; unrecognized rulers arranged discreet meetings with foreign dignitaries. Publicized spa meetings created a smokescreen around political moves; secret ones paved the way to reconciliations. All of the above happened during the buildup to the Franco-Russian rapprochement, the Russo-Bulgarian stand-off and the balancing act of Italian diplomacy between the two European blocs. In 1881, the president of the council of ministers, Leon Gambetta, said: 'A rapprochement between France and Russia is desirable, but it will be for later, it is a reserve capital'. Franco-Russian negotiations took place in secret, but French society welcomed Russians; when Baron Arthur Pavlovich Mohrenheim came to Ville Cauterets for a cure in 1891, the spa society hailed him. Spas showed their worth to Bulgaria during eight years of its diplomatic limbo.
