Zwembad Van Eyck, Art Deco swimming pool in Portus Ganda, Belgium
Zwembad Van Eyck is an Art Deco swimming pool in Ghent featuring a 25-meter lap pool and multiple traditional bathing cabins spread across different levels. The building also includes a viewing area for spectators.
In 1886 the Société Anonyme des Bains et Lavoirs Publics and the city of Ghent built the bathhouse on Julius de Vigneplein, designed by Edmond de Vigne, with water draining directly into the Scheldt. It opened only in summer until 1932, when Fritz De Boever and Georges Audoor added a glass roof and new changing cabins. A 1952 conversion fitted it for competitive swimming, and it was listed as a monument on 5 April 1995.
The pool is named after the Van Eyckplein where Edmond de Vigne placed it, not after the painters: the square honours the Van Eyck brothers, and the bathhouse carries the square's name. From the start the pool was meant for every class of the population, and school swimming still fills most of its hours today.
The entrance hall and cafeteria occupy a separate building added during the 2001 renovation, so the protected original structure was left untouched. The pool lies on Julius de Vigneplein by the Schelde, near the Portus Ganda marina, whose administration is housed here. The baths are still in use, and the pool mainly serves school swimming alongside public sessions.
The pool was the only one in Belgium with a natural filter of several layers of rock, which purified the water and cut chlorine use far below other pools. The bath tubs remain in use alongside the 25-metre pool. The building was listed as a monument on 5 April 1995.
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