La Piscine de Roubaix, a place of art and history

In 1922, the mayor of Roubaix commissioned architect Albert Baert to design the most beautiful swimming pool in France — a project reflecting a social and hygienist political vision aimed at improving the harsh living conditions of the working class.

Inspired by the layout of Cistercian abbeys, the architect designed a courtyard complex enclosing a cloistered garden. The main wing, conceived as a vast nave, housed an Olympic-size pool illuminated by sumptuous polychrome stained-glass windows depicting the rising and setting sun. Along the garden, two wings of public bathhouses contained small cubicles with mosaic-tiled bathtubs spread over two floors. The complex also featured a cafeteria, a hairdressing and beauty salon, steam baths, and an industrial laundry. The unprecedented luxury of Roubaix’s swimming pool made it a favored meeting place and a hub of social diversity, cherished by residents for over fifty years.

In 1985, structural weakness in the building’s vaulted roof forced the city to close the site. Deeply attached to the pool, its symbolism, and its history, the people of Roubaix rallied for its preservation. In 1994, architect Jean-Paul Philippon was tasked with converting the site into a socially engaged, forward-thinking museum. It opened its doors in 2001, filling the cultural gap in the city, which had been without an exhibition venue since 1980. Philippon also designed an extension in 2018, adding 2,000 m² of additional exhibition space.

Now listed as 20th-Century Heritage, La Piscine houses a rich collection of paintings, sculptures, ceramics, design objects, textiles, and drawings.