La Piscine

An Art Deco swimming pool became one of northern France’s most unusual museums. La Piscine – Musée d’Art et d’Industrie André Diligent occupies the former municipal baths of Roubaix, opened in 1932 and transformed into a museum in 2001. The old pool remains the centrepiece, surrounded by sculptures and artworks reflected in the water. The collection brings together paintings, sculpture, ceramics, textiles and decorative arts from the 19th and 20th centuries, with a particular connection to Roubaix’s industrial and textile heritage. Historic changing rooms, showers and stained-glass windows have been preserved, making the architecture part of the collection itself.