This Dutch city is building a swimming pool inside an old church (and it looks heavenly)

What do you do when you have a city with an empty church and no central swimming pools? The Dutch city of Heerlen had this exact problem — and the solution was simple:

You convert the church into a swimming pool.

That’s right, St. Francis of Assisi Church is over 100 years old, but now, the pews will be switched out for swimming lanes.

Construction is still underway, but a rendering of what the pool will look like is causing quite the splash.

Heerlen says ‘hallelujah’ to this solution

Once the diocese of Roermond decided to withdraw from the beautiful church building, the municipality saw an opportunity to fix one problem using another.

Heerlen was in desperate need of a pool that could be accessed easily, and this church was in need of a new purpose.

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Heerlen’s alderman for city development, Jordy Clemens tells Volkskrant about the decision:

“Here, in a special and serene atmosphere, you can swim laps in a 25-metre pool. That way, we preserve a national monument — and people who live in the city centre will once again have a swimming pool within walking distance.”

The pastors are in — literally

And the diocese has no objection to their church being repurposed. In fact, according to Clemens, “The pastor has already promised that he will take the first dip.”

Of course, some X users are making jokes about baptisms en masse.

Translation: “An opportunity for baptist movements to host splashy baptisms”

While this is certainly innovative, Clemens tells Volkskrant that this is typical Heerlen behaviour.

“In Heerlen, we often choose to swim against the tide. To do things differently than you might expect. That is absolutely the case with the choice of this location.”

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According to the municipality website, that pastor won’t be able to take the first dip until 2026, but we’ll be right after him!

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