Altes Hallenbad, Public bath building in Bergheim district, Heidelberg, Germany.
The Altes Hallenbad is a former public bath complex in Heidelberg-Bergheim, built from 1903 to 1906 to plans by Franz Sales Kuhn, who combined classical and Jugendstil forms with antique references. Its two swimming halls had yellow sandstone pool surrounds, wooden changing cabins and a gallery, under patented concrete coffered ceilings. Since 2013 the building has housed an organic supermarket, a restaurant and, in the former men's pool, the KÖRPERWELTEN exhibition.
Architect Franz Sales Kuhn designed this public swimming facility, which opened in 1906. After operating as a bathhouse for 75 years, it closed in 1981 and was later transformed for cultural and commercial uses.
The building's name comes from its use as a public indoor swimming pool from 1906 to 1981. The two former pool halls were long used as rehearsal rooms for theatre and orchestra, and from 2006 the rooms served as a theatre and a disco. Since September 2017 the former men's pool has housed the Körperwelten exhibition of plastinated bodies.
The main entrance is now on the south side facing Poststraße, where Kuhn's plans already foresaw a single-storey porch; the organic supermarket and a restaurant occupy the former basement level reached from there. The old men's pool hall, rebuilt from December 2013 and reopened in November 2014, holds the Körperwelten permanent exhibition since September 2017. The women's pool, the arcades and the roof lounge serve as a conference and event venue.
The men's pool hall, with its yellow sandstone pool basin, was rebuilt from December 2013 and reopened in November 2014 as a market hall selling food and furnishings. Since September 2017 it has housed a permanent exhibition of the Körperwelten, a travelling show of plastinated bodies on the road since 1996.
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