La Piscine in Roubaix

Tipped off by our friend Sue, we visited the Museum of Art and Industry housed in the old swimming pool in Roubaix.

Unlikely though this sounds, it does make sense. Roubaix is one of those towns which was once industrial and very prosperous, and as the industry failed became less prosperous. So it has a number of wonderful buildings, left over from the glory days, which have survived because it never went through the period of demolition and replacement that continuing properity would probably have caused. Now it is busy reinventing itself as a lively cultural centre. (Does this sound familiar?) Among its neglected assets were the collection from the museum (which had closed down in 1940, during the war, and never reopened), and a magnificent art deco swimming pool. And someone had the bright idea of bringing them together.

This has been beautifully done, with great respect for the original building. THe main gallery is the pool itself, its width reduced by walkways along its length, the original lion's head fountain at one end balanced by a monumental ceramic arch (originally made for an international exhibition in 1913) at the other. Along the sides is displayed the museum's sculpture collection, impressive for quantity rather than quality, but gaining great charm from its unexpected setting. Between the pool and the outer walls, the shower cubicles have been left in place but opened up, the municipal green and cream brickwork providing display cabinets for smaller items, so that you can, for example, look through a group of Picasso's ceramics to the pool beyond. More works from the collection have been hung on the outer walls, and care has been taken to give priority in this area to those with aquatic themes.

Beyond are more conventional galleries, displaying other aspects of the collection, which is - well, uneven might be the best word. An attempt has been made to find a coherent thread, to take the visitor through a sequence both logically and chronologically, but it is clear that the museum has what it has, and the criteria by which it acquired it were not purely aesthetic. Once we'd worked that out, we relaxed into enjoying the show.

( As witness... )