Reference : FR020
POSTCARD AVAILABLE FOR TRADE
Size : 9 x 15 cm
"Pexiora (Aude)"
The Canal du Midi or Canal des Deux Mers (Occitan : Canal de las Doas Mars / Canal del Miègjorn) is a 240 km long canal in the south (le Midi) of France. The canal connects the Garonne River (from the city of Toulouse) to the Étang de Thau on the Mediterranean.
Another canal runs from Toulouse to the Atlantic Ocean, following the river Garonne. So it is called "Canal Latéral de la Garonne" (or Canal de Garonne). In that way the Canal du Midi and the Canal Lateral de la Garonne make both the connexion between Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean sea.
The original purpose of the Canal du Midi was to be a shortcut between the Atlantic and the Mediterranean, avoiding the long sea voyage around hostile Spain, Barbary pirates, and a trip that in the 17th century required a full month of sailing.
The Canal du Midi was opened officially as the Canal Royal de Languedoc on May 15, 1681. It was built under the supervision of Pierre-Paul Riquet, a rich tax-farmer. He bankrupted himself in the personal undertaking and died destitute in 1680, just months before the Canal was opened to navigation. Riquet was not alone in the undertaking : his 12 000 workers toiled for fifteen years to create the Canal.
The Canal has 103 locks which serve to climb and descend a total of 190 meters. The Canal has 328 structures, including not only the locks but also bridges, dams and a tunnel.
At the town of Béziers the Canal crosses over the river Orb. To accomplish this feat, a pont-canal (bridge canal) was built.
The design of the Canal included the first canal passage ever built through a tunnel (the Malpas tunnel). The Canal du Midi passes through a passage 173 meters long under a hill at Enserune.
The Canal also involved building the first artificial reservoir for feeding a canal waterway — a massive dam, 700 meters long, 30 meters above the riverbed and 120 meters thick at its base, which was built by the labor of hundreds of local women carrying soil in baskets.
The construction of the Canal du Midi was considered by people in the 17th century as the biggest project of the day. Even today, it is seen as a marvelous engineering accomplishment.
At the town of Béziers the Canal crosses over the river Orb. To accomplish this feat, a pont-canal (bridge canal) was built.
The design of the Canal included the first canal passage ever built through a tunnel (the Malpas tunnel). The Canal du Midi passes through a passage 173 meters long under a hill at Enserune.
The Canal also involved building the first artificial reservoir for feeding a canal waterway — a massive dam, 700 meters long, 30 meters above the riverbed and 120 meters thick at its base, which was built by the labor of hundreds of local women carrying soil in baskets.
The construction of the Canal du Midi was considered by people in the 17th century as the biggest project of the day. Even today, it is seen as a marvelous engineering accomplishment.
UNESCO w.h.s. :
Canal du Midi
Date of inscription : 1996
This 360 km network of navigable waterways linking the Mediterranean and the Atlantic through 328 structures (locks, aqueducts, bridges, tunnels, etc.) is one of the most remarkable feats of civil engineering in modern times. Built between 1667 and 1694, it paved the way for the Industrial Revolution. The care that its creator, Pierre-Paul Riquet, took in the design and the way it blends with its surroundings turned a technical achievement into a work of art.
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