City of St. Gallen lacks money Switzerland's oldest indoor pool is threatened with closure

Time travel while swimming: The Volksbad St. Gallen is extremely popular due to its impressive architecture. But because the city is in dire straits, Switzerland's oldest indoor pool is threatened with closure.

There are no water slides or bubble jets, but the Volksbad St. Gallen is still extremely popular with bathers. It's like swimming 120 years ago in an elegant Art Nouveau atmosphere.

But that could soon be a thing of the past. The popular St. Gallen public swimming pool is threatened with closure. Due to St. Gallen's financial situation, the city is planning to close the indoor pool, among other things. This is expected to save 420,000 francs per year. Whether the Volksbad will have to close in 2028 will be decided in November when the city parliament discusses the planned cost-cutting measures.

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"It's really dilapidated"

The Volksbad, located between the Old Town and the Museum Quarter, is the oldest indoor swimming pool still in existence in Switzerland. Opened in 1906, it was only the second public swimming pool in the country. It was built by the city architect of the time, Albert Pfeiffer, and is a listed building. Only minor changes have ever been made to the exterior and interior - the indoor pool still looks almost exactly as it did when it opened.

However, maintaining and operating the Volksbad costs a lot of money - and the city of St. Gallen has to make savings. "The Volksbad is a patient in intensive care", says city councillor Mathias Gabathuler on SRF's Regionaljournal Ostschweiz. Due to the tight financial situation, it makes no sense for the city to continue operating the Volksbad. "It's really dilapidated", says Gabathuler. However, the people of St. Gallen have plenty of swimming alternatives. In addition, the new Blumenwies indoor pool on the outskirts of the city is due to reopen in fall 2027. "We will then have twice the water surface area available," says Gabathuler.

Hope for continued operation?

However, the planned closure has not gone down well with bathers, and not just because of the special architecture of the Volksbad. The warm water day on Thursdays, when the pool is heated to 33 degrees, is popular. An 85-year-old swimmer tells SRF: "It's lovely here. I've been coming here to swim for many years"

However, there is still hope that the pool will remain open. As the Regionaljournal Ostschweiz further reports, the Swiss Youth Hostels could be considered as the operator of the St. Gallen public swimming pool. A corresponding feasibility study is currently being carried out.