Occurrence of Attributes in Original Text
The text related to the cultural heritage 'Canal du Midi' has mentioned 'Canal' in the following places:
| Occurrence Sentence | Text Source |
|---|---|
| Canal du MidiCanal du Midi crossing the river Orb in Bxc3xa9ziersSpecificationsLength240xc2xa0km (150xc2xa0mi)[1]Maximum boat length30xc2xa0m (98xc2xa0ft)Maximum boat beam5.50xc2xa0m (18.0xc2xa0ft)Locks65 (originally 86)Maximum height above sea level189xc2xa0m (620xc2xa0ft)Minimum height above sea level0xc2xa0m (0xc2xa0ft)Navigation authorityVNFHistoryFormer namesCanal royal en LanguedocModern nameCanal du MidiCurrent ownerState of FranceOriginal ownerPierre-Paul RiquetPrincipal engineerPierre-Paul RiquetOther engineer(s)Marshal Sebastien Vauban, Louis Nicolas de Clerville, Franxc3xa7ois Andrxc3xa9ossyDate approved1666Construction began1667Date of first use20 May 1681Date completed15 May 1681GeographyStart pointToulouseEnd pointxc3x89tang de ThauBeginning coordinates43xc2xb036xe2x80xb240xe2x80xb3N 1xc2xb025xe2x80xb206xe2x80xb3Exefxbbxbf / xefxbbxbf43.61102xc2xb0N 1.41844xc2xb0Exefxbbxbf / 43.61102; 1.41844Ending coordinates43xc2xb020xe2x80xb224xe2x80xb3N 3xc2xb032xe2x80xb223xe2x80xb3Exefxbbxbf / xefxbbxbf43.34003xc2xb0N 3.53978xc2xb0Exefxbbxbf / 43.34003; 3.53978 Les Onglous LighthouseBranch ofCanal des Deux MersConnects toGaronne Lateral Canal, La Nouvelle branch, Canal de Brienne, Hxc3xa9rault, and xc3x89tang de ThauSummit:Seuil de Naurouze UNESCO World Heritage SiteCriteriaCultural: i, ii, iv, viReference770Inscription1996 (20th session) | WIKI |
| The Canal du Midi (French pronunciation:xc2xa0xe2x80x8b[kanal dy midi]; Occitan: Canal del Mixc3xa8gjorn [ka'nal del mjxc9x9bdxcbx88dxcdxa1xcax92uxc9xbe]) is a 240xc2xa0km (150xc2xa0mi) long canal in Southern France (French: le Midi). | WIKI |
| Originally named the Canal royal en Languedoc (Royal Canal in Languedoc) and renamed by French revolutionaries to Canal du Midi in 1789, the canal is considered one of the greatest construction works of the 17th century. | WIKI |
| The canal connects the Garonne to the xc3x89tang de Thau on the Mediterranean and along with the 193xc2xa0km (120xc2xa0mi) long Canal de Garonne forms the Canal des Deux Mers, joining the Atlantic to the Mediterranean. | WIKI |
| The canal runs from the city of Toulouse down to the xc3x89tang de Thau near the Mediterranean. | WIKI |
| Strictly speaking, "Canal du Midi" refers to the portion initially constructed from Toulouse to the Mediterranean xe2x80x93 the Deux-Mers canal project aimed to link together several sections of navigable waterways to join the Mediterranean and the Atlantic: first the Canal du Midi, then the Garonne which was more or less navigable between Toulouse and Bordeaux, then the Garonne Lateral Canal built later, and finally the Gironde estuary after Bordeaux. | WIKI |
| The Canal du Midi is one of the oldest canals of Europe still in operation (the prototype being the Briare Canal). | WIKI |
| The key challenge, raised by Pierre-Paul Riquet, was to convey water from the Montagne Noire (Black Mountains) to the Seuil de Naurouze, the highest point of the canal. | WIKI |
| Contents 1 Introduction 1.1 Location and profile of the canal 1.2 Legal status 2 History 2.1 Abandoned projects 2.2 Study of the project 2.2.1 Highlights 2.2.2 Inaccuracies by Pierre-Paul Riquet 2.2.3 Study techniques 2.3 Political and economic context 2.4 The edict of Louis XIV and the financing of the project 2.5 Construction of the canal 2.5.1 Work organization and social conditions 2.5.2 Trades and work measures implemented 2.6 Inauguration 2.7 Supplementary works 2.8 Operation and life of the canal 2.8.1 Management 2.8.2 Maintenance 2.8.3 The economy around the canal 2.8.4 The boats 2.8.5 Influence on Hungary 2.9 Rail competition 2.10 The end of merchant traffic 2.11 The canal in the 21st century 2.11.1 A canal for tourism and recreation 2.11.2 A canal for water 2.11.3 The Canal as heritage 3 The structures 3.1 Water supply for the canal 3.2 The locks 3.3 The ports 3.4 The aqueducts 3.5 Other structures 4 Flora and fauna 5 The Canal du Midi as a model 6 People linked to the canal 7 See also 8 Notes 8.1 Comments 8.2 Citations 9 References 10 Further reading 11 External links | WIKI |
| Location and profile of the canal[edit] | WIKI |
| Its course runs for 240 kilometres between Marseillan, at a place called Les Onglous, where the canal opens into the xc3xa9tang de Thau near Sxc3xa8te and Toulouse at Port de l'Embouchure. | WIKI |
| The Canal du Midi is a summit-level canal, climbing from Toulouse on the Atlantic side over a distance of 52xc2xa0km to the Seuil de Naurouze or summit level, where the feeder canal enters. | WIKI |
| The design canal depth is 2 m with a minimum of 1.80 m. The draft allowed is 1.50 m although regular users advise that even with 1.40 m boats will occasionally touch the bottom because of silt deposits in many places. | WIKI |
| The width on the surface is 20 m on average with variations between 16 m and 20 m. Finally, the width of the canal bed is 10 m.[5] | WIKI |
| The canal continues to Bxc3xa9ziers after the passing through the Fonserannes Locks (6), then Agde (7), to finish at Sxc3xa8te on the xc3xa9tang de Thau (8). | WIKI |
| The longest canal pound is 53.87 kilometres between Argens Lock and the Fonserannes Locks, while the shortest Canal pound is 105 m between the two Fresquel locks. | WIKI |
| Under Article L. 2111-11 of the Code, the public domain of the canal is determined by reference to the fief once granted to Pierre-Paul Riquet and limits were set by the official report drawn up in 1772. | WIKI |
| Articles L. 2124-20 to L. 2124-25 set out the rules relating to the maintenance of the canal which is generally the responsibility of the public entity that owns it, with the participation of communes and, in some cases, waterside residents. | WIKI |
| The building of a canal was an old idea. | WIKI |
| Numerous and sometimes utopian projects were devised to build a canal between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. | WIKI |
| [12] These projects were abandoned because they did not give enough thought to the water supply for the canal and provided a system of diversion of water from Pyrxc3xa9nxc3xa9es rivers too complex or impossible to implement. | WIKI |
| In 1650 another engineer also proposed to divert water from the Arixc3xa8ge to Cintegabelle to bring a non-navigable canal to Pech-David near Toulouse. | WIKI |
| The projects were not launched for fear of losing too much money and conviction of the human impossibility to dig such a canal. | WIKI |
| Photograph of the Letter, Archives of the canal, Toulouse | WIKI |
| It is on the design of a canal that could be done in the province of Languedoc for communication between the two seas Ocxc3xa9ane and Mediterranean, you will be surprised, my lord, that I undertake to tell you about something apparently I do not know and that a collector of salt tax mixes with levelling ... | WIKI |
| It was some time ago that the lord did me the honour to come to this place because of the fact that I am his neighbour and servant where to find me the means to make this canal, because he had heard that I had done a particular study of it, I told him that I knew him and promised to visit him at Castres on my return from Perpignan, and to guide him around the area to make him see the possibility. | WIKI |
| However, my Lord, please take the trouble to read my mail, so that you may truly judge that this canal is feasible, it is truly difficult because of the cost but it can be seen that the good that will come outweighs the consideration of expense. | WIKI |
| The late King Henry IV, grandfather of our monarch, wished passionately to do this work, the late Cardinal de Joyeuse had started to do some work and Cardinal Richelieu wanted this achievement, in the history of France, the collected works of the said Cardinal de Joyeuse and several other writings warrant the truth; but until today, nobody had thought about how the river can be used to find an easy route for the canal, because it had then been imagined that the use of rivers and machines for raising water were insurmountable obstacles. | WIKI |
| Also, I believe that these difficulties have always caused distaste which has postponed the execution of the work, but today, my lord, there are easy routes and there are rivers that can be easily diverted from their ancient beds and conducted in this new canal by natural and proper inclination, all difficulties cease, except that of finding the funds to be used for the cost of the work. | WIKI |
| You have for that a thousand means, my Lord, and I present to you again two of my memoires attached to help you to consider more the ease and assurance this new navigation will make for the Straits of Gibraltar will cease be an absolutely necessary passage so that the income of the king of Spain in Cadiz will be reduced and those of our King rise especially on farms inputs and outputs of goods in this kingdom, in addition the rights received from the said canal will rise to immense sums, and that His Majesty's subjects in general will benefit from a thousand new businesses and will greatly benefit from this navigation, that if I learn that this plan should please you, I will send to you with the number of locks that need to be done and an exact calculation of toises of the said canal, both in length and width. | WIKI |
| Compared to canals, managing rivers is difficult but only one canal is required between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. | WIKI |
| Unlike a river, it is easier to manage the flow of a canal to ensure a constant flow of traffic throughout the year. | WIKI |
| The Canal du Midi is a summit-level canal because it must pass over a height between two valleys. | WIKI |
| The construction of this canal required passage through the Seuil de Naurouze or the Seuil de Graissens. | WIKI |
| In 1660, Riquet found the solution to the main problem: the water supply to the summit point to feed both sides of the canal. | WIKI |
| [19] He was inspired by the French engineer Adam de Craponne who had implemented the same system for the Craponne Canal. | WIKI |
| It was the Rigole de la plaine which he completed in 1665 and used to prove that it is possible to bring water to the highest points of the course of the canal. | WIKI |
| From that moment Louis XIV knew that the canal was technically feasible. | WIKI |
| Riquet studied in depth the supply of water to the canal at the Seuil de Naurouze. | WIKI |
| The project still remained unclear in many respects especially the route of the canal. | WIKI |
| The canal could not consider not going through the economic heart of the region so therefore the final route was via Castres and the Girou. | WIKI |
| [22] He also built on his property in Bonrepos a model of the canal with locks, tunnels, and xc3xa9panchoirs (spillways)[27] reproducing the slopes and feeding all with water. | WIKI |
| Thus, the construction of the canal would permit the creation of a direct passage between the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic without passing through the Strait of Gibraltar controlled by the Spaniards, the aim being to destroy the Spanish trade and establish a commercial flow through Languedoc. | WIKI |
| Map of the canal from Toulouse to Sxc3xa8te, 18th century or earlier | WIKI |
| Despite a project that seemed precarious, Colbert authorized commencement of work by a royal edict in October 1666[33] after the approval of a committee of experts that looked at the route of the canal for several months. | WIKI |
| The decree specified the authorization of the construction of the canal, its issuing of invitations to tender, and its awarding to the designer, Pierre-Paul Riquet, and his descendants. | WIKI |
| It also gave rights of expropriation to Riquet and describes the possibility of creating mills, warehouses and housing for the operation of the canal. | WIKI |
| This system ensured the continued maintenance and operation of the canal even if the state's finances are at their lowest. | WIKI |
| [37] So, in exchange for the ownership and operation of the canal, Pierre-Paul Riquet proposed to finance part of the works from his own funds. | WIKI |
| Construction of the canal[edit] | WIKI |
| This supply system successfully fed the canal with water where it crossed the continental divide, replacing water that drained toward the two seas. | WIKI |
| The Laudot is a tributary of the Tarn in the Montagne Noire some 20xc2xa0km (12xc2xa0mi) from the summit of the proposed canal at Seuil de Naurouze. | WIKI |
| It was eventually equipped with 14 locks in order to bring building materials for the canal down from the mountains and to create a new port for the mountain town of Revel. | WIKI |
| World's first canal tunnel, at Malpas | WIKI |
| This part of the canal posed problems at the junction between the xc3xa9tang de Thau and Trxc3xa8bes because the canal must cross the course of the Hxc3xa9rault and the Libron. | WIKI |
| This part of the canal was also a problem at the level of the seuil of Ensxc3xa9rune and the descent to Beziers in the valley of the Orb. | WIKI |
| The Malpas Tunnel was the first canal passage ever built through a tunnel. | WIKI |
| In 1681 work on the canal ended at Bxc3xa9ziers. | WIKI |
| His sons inherited the canal, but the family's investments were not recovered and debts not fully paid until over 100 years later. | WIKI |
| The canal was well managed and run as a paternalistic enterprise until the revolution. | WIKI |
| The canal was built on a grand scale, with oval shaped locks 30.5xc2xa0m (100xc2xa0ft) long, 6xc2xa0m (20xc2xa0ft) wide at the gates and 11xc2xa0m (36xc2xa0ft) wide in the middle. | WIKI |
| In May 1681 the channel was thoroughly inspected by order of the king to check the work and the water-tightness of the canal. | WIKI |
| At the inauguration of the canal at Toulouse on 15 May, the King's steward and the president of the Estates of Languedoc travelled first on the canal followed by many other boats carrying particularly wheat. | WIKI |
| After the maiden voyage, the canal was drained as the work was not complete; it would not be reopened until December 1682. | WIKI |
| [45] The canal was opened to traffic in May 1683 and stopped receiving public works in March 1685. | WIKI |
| For fifteen years nearly 12,000 workers worked on the construction of the canal. | WIKI |
| All of the work was manual and the digging of the canal was with shovels and pickaxes. | WIKI |
| The women labourers were surprisingly important to the canal's engineering. | WIKI |
| They were employed at first to move earth to the dam at Saint Ferrxc3xa9ol, but their supervisors, who were struggling to design the channels from the dam to the canal, recognized their expertise. | WIKI |
| Building a navigational canal across the continent was well beyond the formal knowledge of the military engineers expected to supervise it, but the peasant women who were carriers of classical hydraulic methods added to the repertoire of available techniques. | WIKI |
| They not only perfected the water supply system for the canal but also threaded the waterway through the mountains near Bxc3xa9ziers, using few locks, and built the eight-lock staircase at Fonserannes. | WIKI |
| Many trades were found on the work sites of the canal in addition to the seasonal workers who were most often farmers. | WIKI |
| Finally, Pierre-Paul Riquet was surrounded by aides as well as auditor-generals and inspector-generals of the canal. | WIKI |
| This commission embarked for Beziers on 2 May 1681 and went up the canal back to Toulouse over six days. | WIKI |
| A great religious ceremony took place on 18 May at the Church of Saint-Roch followed by a procession to the canal to bless the work, the convoy, and the people present. | WIKI |
| In his haste, Riquet had underestimated the number of rivers that in case of a flood would silt up and swell the canal. | WIKI |
| He also built many masonry structures to isolate the many rivers that flow into the canal and spillways to regulate the water level. | WIKI |
| Antoine Niquet was responsible for monitoring the canal until 1726. | WIKI |
| The Canal de Jonction or 'junction canal', built in 1776, gave access to Narbonne via the Canal de la Robine de Narbonne. | WIKI |
| [54] In 1810 a diversion canal allowed Carcassonne to be connected. | WIKI |
| Finally, in 1857 the Canal latxc3xa9ral xc3xa0 la Garonne was opened between Toulouse and Castets-en-Dorthe, completing the link between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea that Riquet had dreamt of. | WIKI |
| Operation and life of the canal[edit] | WIKI |
| The Riquet family quickly put up a pyramidal organisation structure with a "Director-General of the Canal" who governs a board of directors responsible for specific geographic areas of the channel. | WIKI |
| Canal management ensures the supply of money to pay for various works and staff hired for the canal. | WIKI |
| Today canal maintenance is done by barges of Waterways of France. | WIKI |
| The maintenance of the canal was a real problem for the descendants of Riquet. | WIKI |
| Despite many precautions, the canal silts up with silt from the water supply. | WIKI |
| Every winter, a period of closure allows the cleaning of the canal. | WIKI |
| It is necessary to re-dig the canal bed every year for two months. | WIKI |
| [57] Another problem is the invasion of the canal by weeds in the levels and spillways. | WIKI |
| Finally, rain, frost, and drought forces managers to keep an eye all along the canal to repair leaks and cracks that might open. | WIKI |
| Approximately 350 employees are made available to the Waterways of France manager by the Ministry of Ecology, Sustainable Development and Energy to maintain the canal. | WIKI |
| The economy around the canal[edit] | WIKI |
| Since its commissioning, the canal has been used to transport passengers and goods. | WIKI |
| Initially, the canal appears to have been mainly used by small sailing barges with easily lowered masts, bow-hauled by gangs of men. | WIKI |
| By 1838 273 vessels were regularly working the canal and passenger and packet boats for mail continued a brisk trade until the coming of the railways in 1857. | WIKI |
| A "malle-poste" postal service was set up on boats along the canal. | WIKI |
| In addition, the canal could be travelled throughout the year. | WIKI |
| The Canal relied on wheat and wine traffic in Languedoc which was its main purpose. | WIKI |
| The canal had the effect of broadening the sales area of the producers of Languedoc. | WIKI |
| The canal also allowed the import to Languedoc of products from other regions such as Marseille soap, rice, starch, dried fish, and spices and dyes. | WIKI |
| At its opening the canal was used by a majority of boats for the transport of goods. | WIKI |
| The proper Canal Barges were called "owned barge" or "canal barge" and also plied the route. | WIKI |
| They relaunched in part the merchant traffic on the canal but commercial and merchant inland water shipping finally disappeared around the late 1980s. | WIKI |
| Animal traction was then a strategic element in the operation of a canal. | WIKI |
| During the heyday of the canal some boats included first class lounges where dinner was served. | WIKI |
| Curiously, the canal did not really serve its purpose. | WIKI |
| After two hundred years of operation, the canal began to suffer from competition from rail and road. | WIKI |
| In 1858 Napoleon III signed a decree entrusting the canal for a period of 40 years to the Chemins de fer du Midi railway company, the owner of the Bordeaux-Narbonne railway line. | WIKI |
| This act had the effect of amplifying the decline in boat traffic on the canal. | WIKI |
| The company primarily promoted the railway and placed higher freight rates on commercial traffic in the canal. | WIKI |
| The period before 1859 corresponded to the canal operating without competition while from 1859 the installation of railways in the south of France began. | WIKI |
| [71] Management of the canal was taken over by the State in 1898 who made successive investments to maintain its competitiveness. | WIKI |
| The state removed taxes and tolls which had the effect of reviving traffic on the canal to which reached 80 million tonne-kilometres in 1909. | WIKI |
| The government tried to revive the renovation of the canal by enacting a legal program to lift the channel to the standards of the Freycinet gauge. | WIKI |
| However, the canal suffered from a size too small for later barges with high tonnage. | WIKI |
| In 1991 operation of the canal was assigned to the administration of Voies navigables de France who remain managers today. | WIKI |
| The canal in the 21st century[edit] | WIKI |
| From the end of the 20th century, the canal has offered many activities. | WIKI |
| A canal for tourism and recreation[edit] | WIKI |
| The canal was featured prominently in the BBC television series Rick Stein's French Odyssey (2005), further publicising the canal to a British audience. | WIKI |
| Busier than the Seine, the canal alone accounts for one-fifth of French river tourism and 80% of passengers are foreigners, primarily Germans, Swiss and British. | WIKI |
| The canal directly employs about 1,900 people, and the annual economic impact due to the activity of the canal is about 122 million euros. | WIKI |
| A canal for water[edit] | WIKI |
| During the dry season, the canal serves as a reservoir for agriculture. | WIKI |
| Nearly 700 irrigation pumps are installed along the canal. | WIKI |
| This is one of the fundamental roles of the canal and one of the reasons for its maintenance by the State since the end of commercial traffic. | WIKI |
| The canal can irrigate up to 40,000 hectares of agricultural land. | WIKI |
| The canal has also provided a supply of drinking water through the water treatment plants at Picotalen (Picotalen I and Picotalen II) since 1973. | WIKI |
| The Canal as heritage[edit] | WIKI |
| While the canal was once seen as a tool of production, trade, and commerce it is now considered to be architectural and technical heritage as evidenced by the refusal of the mayor of Toulouse, Pierre Baudis, to allow space on the Canal du Midi to be used for an urban expressway. | WIKI |
| Platanus (Plane Trees) is a particular source of problems because their roots destroy the banks and the paved cycle paths and their leaves invade the canal. | WIKI |
| The canal is a heavy heritage to maintain and enhance as the manager of French canals, Voies navigables de France (VNF), specializes in the management and maintenance of French canals in a market and commercial economy and not in the tourism market where the Canal du Midi is located. | WIKI |
| In addition maintenance costs are higher than in a traditional network because of the age of the canal. | WIKI |
| VNF must try to establish local partnerships to develop and maintain the canal[81] since its budget does not allow it to provide the care and supervision of 360xc2xa0km of canals. | WIKI |
| The classification as a World Heritage Site creates an additional level of oversight by the State who must ensure that any changes along the canal and its structures are compatible with the strategic issues of UNESCO. | WIKI |
| However, a report of the General Inspectorate of Architecture and Heritage in 2003 showed that the channel was in very poor condition with many works and infrastructure devaluing its surroundings and suffering from significant housing pressure evidenced by uncontrolled construction, poorly designed facilities that misrepresent the site, and the construction of marinas in the ports on the canal. | WIKI |
| Nevertheless, to respect the uniformity of the canal development and support efforts for improvement, the Canal du Midi remains under the management of VNF under the tutelage of the State who want to create a monitoring mission like the Loire and Mont-Saint-Michel. | WIKI |
| Water supply for the canal[edit] | WIKI |
| The Cassini map showing the Bassin de Saint-Ferrxc3xa9ol, the key of the water supply to the canal | WIKI |
| It takes 90 million cubic metres of water to feed the canal for one year. | WIKI |
| [84] To do this, Riquet set up a complex system of water supply to the canal. | WIKI |
| The idea was to capture the waters of the Montagne Noire located several tens of kilometres away and bring it to the Seuil de Naurouze, the highest point of the future canal, through channels. | WIKI |
| Initially, two reservoirs fed the highest point of the canal at the seuil de Naurouze: the Bassin de Saint-Ferrxc3xa9ol had a capacity of 6.3xc2xa0million cubic metres and was built between 1667 and 1672. | WIKI |
| The Bassin de Saint-Ferrxc3xa9ol was and remains the main water reservoir for the canal with a surface of 67 hectares. | WIKI |
| Other reservoirs were also built at Carcassonne to supply the lower part of the canal to the Mediterranean. | WIKI |
| So the waters of the Fresquel, the Cesse, and the Orbiel augmented those of the canal. | WIKI |
| On the other hand, the waters of the Orb at Beziers provided additional flow to part of the canal. | WIKI |
| Some of the locks on the canal are architectural gems. | WIKI |
| This system allows triple access while protecting the canal from river flooding. | WIKI |
| Similarly, the canal has several multiple locks xe2x80x93 i.e. | WIKI |
| The basin of the Canal du Midi at Castelnaudary, one of the ports on the canal | WIKI |
| Several ports were built at regular intervals along the route of the canal in order to load and unload goods and also to provide stopping-places for travellers. | WIKI |
| Toulouse has two ports: the port de l'Embouchure is located at the junction of the Canal du Midi, the Canal de Brienne, and the Lateral canal of the Garonne while Port Saint-Sauveur is located in the centre of town near the Hall of Grains. | WIKI |
| Carcassonne is today a major tourist stop on the canal and has a port built in 1810 at the time when the city was connected to the canal. | WIKI |
| There are also the ports of Homps which was one of the most important on the canal and Le Somail which was a popular place for rest and recreation. | WIKI |
| Finally, just before its arrival at the Mediterranean Sea, the canal has two ports: the port of Agde where there is the old hotel of the "Administration of the Canal", and the port of Onglous at Marseillan which is the last port before Sxc3xa8te and its royal canal giving access to the sea. | WIKI |
| They allow the canal to cross rivers that could disrupt the water flow in the canal. | WIKI |
| In fact, the rivers flowing into the canal cause an overflow of water during flooding and fill the canal with silt. | WIKI |
| Some aqueducts date from the time of Pierre-Paul Riquet, but most were built after the completion of the canal in particular due to improvements recommended by Vauban. | WIKI |
| The canal has the following aqueducts (in order from Agde to Toulouse ): | WIKI |
| It was also the first aqueduct built by Pierre-Paul Riquet Orbiel aqueduct at Trxc3xa8bes (PK 117) Fresquel aqueduct (PK 109) was built beginning in 1800 and opened on 31 May 1810, as a result of the realignment of the route to pass through the centre of the city of Carcassonne, a city that refused to pay a share of the cost when the canal was first built Herbettes aqueduct, (PK 8), a new aqueduct at Toulouse completed in 1983, 74m long, to cross a four-lane motorway. | WIKI |
| the Argent-Double spillway located in La Redorte near the Argent-Double Aqueduct: this work incorporates eleven successive stone arches contemporary to Vauban, its designer; it was built by Antoine de Niquet and allows for the overflow water from the canal to be discharged into the stream | WIKI |
| the Fonserannes water slope, which bypasses the 6-lock staircase at Fonserannes, was built at the time when the canal was to be upgraded to Freycinet gauge to save time and allow larger vessels to work on. | WIKI |
| the Ouvrages du Libron (the works of Libron), a unique achievement of its kind which allows the canal to cross the course of the Libron near Agde | WIKI |
| and used the water height differences to power Quern-stones to grind grain from the commissioning of the canal. | WIKI |
| The canal is a long ribbon of water stretching through the landscape and attracts many animal species. | WIKI |
| Several species of fish such as bream breed in the canal, and others reproduce in its feeding rivers and spend part of their life in the canal. | WIKI |
| Molluscs such as anadontes xe2x80x93 a kind of freshwater mussel, and corbicules xe2x80x93 a kind of freshwater clam occur in the canal. | WIKI |
| Finally, many animals and birds come to drink water from the canal. | WIKI |
| The canal is also a very vegetated place. | WIKI |
| In the beginning, Pierre-Paul Riquet planted trees to stabilize the banks of the canal especially where it overlooked the surrounding lands. | WIKI |
| The engineer also planted irises on the side of the canal to reduce subsidence of its banks. | WIKI |
| In the 18th century, the trees planted along the canal become a source of income. | WIKI |
| At the Revolution plantations around the canal had approximately 60,000 trees when there were only 45,000 at the beginning. | WIKI |
| [101] It was under the First Empire that Plane trees began to be planted to replace the cut trees, which are today the dominant variety along the canal. | WIKI |
| The canal was also magnified by the Encyclopedia or Reasoned Dictionary of Science, Arts, and Crafts by Diderot and D'Alembert in 1765 who highlighted its value and greatness. | WIKI |
| The canal became an example in Europe as throughout the Age of Enlightenment it was the only canal of this size in Europe. | WIKI |
| People linked to the canal[edit] | WIKI |
| Sebastien Le Prestre de Vauban, the royal architect and engineer who made many improvements to the canal between 1685 and 1686 Franxc3xa7ois Andreossy, a close associate and deputy of Pierre-Paul Riquet who continued the work after the Riquet's death. | WIKI |
| The Canal du Midi is the initial part of the Deux-Mers Canal project which aimed to link the Mediterranean and the Atlantic by connecting several sections of waterways. | UNESCO |
| The Canal du Midi has five elements, namely the main section that connects Toulouse (Haute-Garonne) to xc3x89tang de Thau at Marseillan along the Mediterranean coast xc2xa0(Hxc3xa9rault) over a length of 240 km; the 36.6 km section between Moussan and Port-la-Nouvelle (Aude) which incorporates part of the former Canal de la Robine; the two branches that merge and flow into the canal at Naurouze (Aude) discharging the waters of the Montagne Noire; the Saint-Pierre Canal (1.6 km) which connects the main section of the Canal with the Garonne in Toulouse; the short section (0.5 km) that joins the Hxc3xa9rault to the round lock at Agde. | UNESCO |
| It is the largest work of the entire canal and the most important civil engineering site of the time. | UNESCO |
| Criterion (iv): The Canal du Midi is notable as the first major summit level canal built to meet a strategic territorial development objective. | UNESCO |
| The engineering work of Pierre-Paul Riquet, designer and builder of the canal, is intact in its layout, in its water supply system, and in many of the structures. | UNESCO |
| However, from the beginning of the 18th century, modifications and adaptations (in particular the work of Vauban), then reconstructions of structures and modernizations, caused the canal to evolve to improve its efficiency. | UNESCO |
| The changes themselves have their own authenticity and value, as they reflect the evolution of engineering, applied technology, and canal management practices. | UNESCO |
| The Canal is protected as a listed site, and some of its elements are also protected as historic monuments. | UNESCO |
| In addition, the surrounding areas of the canal are now protected, by their listing as landscape sites of the Canal du Midi, an area of xe2x80x8bxe2x80x8b18,200 ha, concerning 74 urban and peri-urban communities. | UNESCO |
| Finally, to respond to the massive degradation of the alignment plantations, the manager implements with the public authorities a global approach to conservation and restoration in the respect of the canal's landscape features, aiming in particular at limiting the spread of the colored canker and eventually restoring the alignments of trees along the banks. | UNESCO |