La Piscine

La Piscine, formally La Piscine-Musée d'Art et d'Industrie André Diligent, is a museum of art and industry located in Roubaix in the Nord department of northern France. Its common name derives from its setting in a former indoor swimming pool, a notable Art Deco building constructed between 1927 and 1932 by the Lille architect Albert Baert. The museum opened in 2000 after a conversion designed by architect Jean-Paul Philippon, and it holds the distinction of being recognized as a Musée de France by the Ministry of Culture. The institution is a service of the City of Roubaix and receives support from the Hauts-de-France region, the Métropole Européenne de Lille, and private patronage through its association of Friends and a circle of corporate sponsors.

The museum's origins reach back to 1835, when Roubaix manufacturers began assembling a collection of textile samples for commercial protection, deposited at the Conseil des prud'hommes. In 1861, Théodore Leuridan, the city archivist, persuaded the municipality to add a museum section, and by 1864 the French government began assigning artworks, leading to the opening of a public museum of painting and sculpture in 1865. In 1882, the city and state founded the École nationale supérieure des arts et industries textiles (ENSAIT), and the collections were transferred there in 1889 to give future engineers artistic knowledge. Under Victor Champier, director from 1902, the collections expanded considerably through purchases and donations. The museum closed in 1940 due to World War II and never fully reopened; it was declassified by the state in 1959, and its holdings were partly dispersed. A municipal museum founded in 1924 and a later effort to recover the industrial heritage also closed, in 1981. The idea of converting the recently closed municipal swimming pool into a museum emerged in 1989 under a team led by Bruno Gaudichon. After a feasibility study and an international architectural competition won by Jean-Paul Philippon, the project was approved in 1992. The museum opened in 2000 and was named after André Diligent, mayor of Roubaix from 1983 to 1994, in 2001. A major restoration costing nine million euros was completed in 2018 after a two-year closure.

The permanent collection is composite in character, combining applied arts and fine arts assembled from the nineteenth century onward. Its holdings encompass textiles, decorative arts, sculpture, painting, ceramics, and drawings. The collection reflects the city's industrial heritage, particularly its textile manufacturing history, while also incorporating fine art. The upper floors of the building are devoted to exhibitions on the regional textile industry, featuring numerous fabrics and pieces by notable fashion designers. The museum also organizes temporary exhibitions in a wing of the building, which have included works by international artists such as Pablo Picasso. In addition to its exhibitions, the museum offers conferences, sensory discovery activities, and courses in partnership with the École du Louvre.

Among the museum's notable works are several paintings and works on paper that represent its fine art holdings. These include Eugène Leroy's Autoportrait (1959), an oil painting; Marcel Gromaire's Les Loisirs (1936), also in oil; and Jean Roulland's Vieille femme (1952). The collection also holds Marc Ronet's Fillette (1970) and Michel Delporte's Papiers découpés (1957), a photomechanical print on paper. The textile and decorative arts collections, rooted in the 1835 fabric sample archive, remain central to the museum's identity and are displayed prominently in the upper galleries.

The building is the former Roubaix municipal swimming pool, constructed from 1927 to 1932 by Albert Baert, who had previously designed baths in Dunkirk and Lille. Conceived at the initiative of Mayor Jean-Baptiste Lebas as part of the hygienist movement, it was designed to be the finest swimming pool in France and to serve as a public facility for sport, hygiene, and leisure, particularly for the working class. The complex combined an Olympic-size 50-meter swimming pool with public baths, organized around a rose garden in the manner of Cistercian abbeys. The main hall contains the pool, illuminated by stained-glass windows representing sunrise and sunset, flanked by bathtubs on two garden-facing levels. The facility originally included a swimmers' refectory, a hairdressing and manicure salon, steam baths, and an industrial laundry. The Art Deco design, with its vaulted roof, ornate rosettes, and side aisles, gives the space a church-like quality. The pool operated until 1985, when it closed due to structural deterioration from chlorine damage. For the museum conversion, Jean-Paul Philippon, who had worked on the Musée d'Orsay in Paris, designed a scheme that preserved the Art Deco character while adding a modern entrance building, special exhibition space, and garden within the roofless shell of an adjoining textile factory. The central pool remains the focal point, with walkways built along its length to display sculpture, separated by water in the middle. Tiled changing and shower cabins preserved from the original structure are used for occasional displays.

La Piscine is located in Roubaix, in the Nord department of northern France, and operates as a service of the City of Roubaix. It is recognized as a Musée de France by the Ministry of Culture, which supports its projects through the Direction Régionale des Affaires Culturelles Hauts-de-France. The Hauts-de-France region contributes to its financing, while the Métropole Européenne de Lille provides occasional support for artistic programming. The museum maintains an official website at www.roubaix-lapiscine.com. Visitors will find a shop and a restaurant and tea room operated by the Lille establishment Méert. The museum is supported by its association of Friends and a circle of corporate patrons.