GENEVA, Switzerland – The historic coffee association Café ECAL (Établissements Classiques de l’Arc Lémanique) is now launching a research program based on a 25,000 euro grant in an effort to preserve the historic value of European café history and culture.
The ECAL association is known for its careful record keeping of the world’s most historical cafés on their archives as connoisseurs of what makes historical cafés truly special.
Academic candidates will be tasked with finding an undiscovered gem pre-dating the 1900s in their home countries by uncovering the hidden origins of coffee shops with a lineage unknown to current owners. Candidates will have to provide reasonable research, proof and cohesive historical value to cafés they deem as worthy.
The program comes at a time where validating new café members is essential.
“Thousands of cafés apply to become members of our association, but we only select those that we can verify as true historical cafés with a rich history and cultural impact. We hope academia’s brightest will help us unlock new hidden treasures”.
There are many criteria that members must address including preservation, cultural initiation and historical knowledge. Cafés must therefore restore the original state of the cafés with absolute historic accuracy from the interior colour scheme to refurbishing original lamps and furnishings.
There must also be an indication of historical knowledge or teaching throughout the café which seeks to inform customers of where they are and why their café is historically significant. Cafés must also host an array of cultural events that are aligned with the foundation values of their establishment and be major actors in creating a cultural scene of historic preservation and engagement.
Candidates can start applying to contact@cafeecal.com as of June 1st, when COVID-19 guidelines are likely to enable such a research to be carried out safely.
