Swimming in art in Le Havre

For travelers arriving from Rouen or Paris, Le Havre marks the end of the train line. “A terminus that is badly named: Nothing could ever truly end in this city, you think it’s the end, that you’ve reached the edge of the continent, but you step off the train and immediately there’s the sea, so it continues,” wrote Maylis de Kerangal in her latest novel, Jour de ressac (“Day of backwash”), much of which unfolds in the port city.

On a July morning, the nearby beach looked tempting, just a short tram ride away. But it was not the salt water that drew everyone here. Les Bains des Docks, envisioned by Jean Nouvel in 2008, is considered one of the most beautiful urban pools in the world, according to the British daily The Telegraph, which featured it in 2018. To get there, the writer’s words serve as a perfect guide: “A university campus now stretched behind the station, upscale hotels rose along the Bassin Vauban, the docks had been converted into shopping arcades, a marina had been created.”

It takes just 10 minutes on foot from the train station to reach the aquatic facility, a flagship among the renovated docks. “The construction of this pool was part of a complete redevelopment of the southern district, between the city and the port,” explained Jean-Baptiste Gastinne, the mayor’s deputy in charge of urban planning and the environment. Some buildings were preserved, like the 19^th-century brick warehouses that once stored coffee and cotton. Other structures emerged, such as the Carré des Docks, a concert hall, and Nouvel’s sober gray parallelepiped stretching along the Bassin Paul-Vatine. From the outside, there is no hint of what lies within.

The square at the center

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