The Project

So what are we doing precisely? What’s the history?

Jafre is a beautiful medieval village with a mere 452 inhabitants, but what makes it so extraordinary is that it has an ancient spring, known for its healing properties. Already back in the 1400’s people gave testimonials in court that they had been cured, or watched someone cured by the spring. One day a farmer in Jafre met a man who was crossing his fields. The man stopped to tell the farmer that the spring with its medicinal powers should be protected by a shrine. The farmer asked the man how he would know that it was the truth? The man said that a baby would die in the village and then left the farmer. The farmer set off to the village to tell the villagers what had happened and was welcomed by the church bells announcing the death of a baby. Consequently, the villagers built a shrine for the spring.

Today, around 600 years later we are trying to do what the man did – protect the spring by building a shrine of sorts.

What are we gonna do to protect the spring?

Construction of a spa resort with thermal baths on the Illum site at Jafre had already started under another developer, but the recession resulted in the project being abandoned, and the site was put up for sale, the resort only 50% complete. What we would love to do is to take this project and finish it by building a wellness centre which protects the spring of Jafre and allows the villagers to once again extend their hospitality to people seeking to be healed by its reputable powers.

Jafre should remain a mecca for those seeking healing and comfort in this amazing natural landscape.

If you want to know what we envisage Project Illum’s wellness center to look like, have a look at our video, or our photo gallery.

How are we going to raise the money to secure the land?

We have interested business partners today looking for this kind of retreats to participate with know-how, technology, ideas and also money of course. At the moment Illum is the kickoff project in Spain, but also Costa Rica and Uruguay are target locations for more.

Together we create the future.