The Canal du Midi (; ) is a long canal in

Southern France Southern France, also known as the South of France or colloquially in French language, French as , is a defined geographical area consisting of the regions of France that border the Atlantic Ocean south of the Marais Poitevin,Louis Papy, ''Le midi ...

(french: le Midi). Originally named the ''Canal royal en Languedoc'' (Royal Canal in Languedoc) and renamed by

French revolutionaries The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are considere ...

to ''Canal du Midi'' in 1789, the canal is considered one of the greatest construction works of the 17th century. The canal connects the Garonne to the Étang de Thau on the Mediterranean and, along with the long

Canal de Garonne Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface flow un ...

, forms the

Canal des Deux Mers , canal_length=Canal du Midi Garonne Lateral Canal , max_boat_length= , max_boat_beam= , present_owner= , original_num_locks= , current_num_locks=Canal du Midi 65 locksGaronne Lateral Canal 53 locks , min_elev= , max_elev= , status= , navigation_ ...

, joining the Atlantic to the Mediterranean. Strictly speaking, ''"Canal du Midi"'' refers to the portion initially constructed from Toulouse to the Mediterranean – 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 The Garonne (, also , ; Occitan, Catalan, Basque, and es, Garona, ; la, Garumna or ) is a river of southwest France and northern Spain. It flows from the central Spanish Pyrenees to the Gironde estuary at the French port of Bordeaux – a le ...

built later, and finally the

Gironde estuary The Gironde estuary ( , US usually ; french: estuaire de la Gironde, ; oc, estuari de aGironda, ) is a navigable estuary (though often referred to as a river) in southwest France and is formed from the meeting of the rivers Dordogne and Gar ...

after Bordeaux.

Jean-Baptiste Colbert Jean-Baptiste Colbert (; 29 August 1619 – 6 September 1683) was a French statesman who served as First Minister of State from 1661 until his death in 1683 under the rule of King Louis XIV. His lasting impact on the organization of the countr ...

authorized the start of work by royal edict in October, 1666, with the aim of developing the wheat trade, under the supervision of

Pierre-Paul Riquet Stele in Toulouse Cathedral Pierre-Paul Riquet, Baron de Bonrepos (29 June 1609 (some sources say 1604) – 4 October 1680) was the engineer and canal-builder responsible for the construction of the Canal du Midi. Background Paul Riquet was b ...

, and construction lasted from 1666 to 1681, during the reign of Louis XIV. The Canal du Midi is one of the oldest canals of Europe still in operation (the prototype being the

Briare Canal The Briare Canal (french: Canal de Briare, ) is one of the oldest canals in France. Its construction started in 1604. It was the first summit level canal in Europe that was built using pound locks, connecting the Rhone-Saône and Seine valleys. ...

). The challenges in these works are closely related to the challenges of inland water transport today. The key challenge, raised by Pierre-Paul Riquet, was to convey water from the

Montagne Noire The Montagne Noire ( oc, Montanha Negra, known as the 'Black Mountain' in English) is a mountain range in central southern France. It is located at the southwestern end of the Massif Central at the juncture of the Tarn, Hérault and Aude departm ...

(Black Mountains) to the

Seuil de Naurouze The Seuil de Naurouze, or Col de Naurouze, is the highest point (190 m above sea level) of the Canal du Midi in southern France. It is the watershed point identified by Pierre-Paul Riquet when he designed and built the canal. Water falling on ...

, the highest point of the canal. The Canal du Midi was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1996, because of its outstanding engineering and artistic design, and it was designated as an International Historic Civil Engineering Landmark in 2016.

Introduction

Location and profile of the canal

The Canal du Midi is located in the south of France, in the departments of Hérault,

Aude Aude (; ) is a Departments of France, department in Southern France, located in the Occitania (administrative region), Occitanie Regions of France, region and named after the river Aude (river), Aude. The departmental council also calls it "Ca ...

, and Haute-Garonne. Is long, starting in the west at

Port de l'Embouchure The Port de l'Embouchure ( en, Port of Mouth) is one of the two ports located in Toulouse on the Canal du Midi. The other being the Port Saint-Sauveur. This port is located in the basin at the Ponts Jumeaux ( en, Twin Bridges). From the basin ar ...

, Toulouse and terminating in the east at a place called ''Les Onglous'', Marseillan, where the canal opens into the

étang de Thau The Étang de Thau (; oc, Estanh de Taur) or Bassin de Thau is the largest of a string of lagoons (''étangs'') that stretch along the French coast from the Rhône river to the foothills of the Pyrenees and the border to Spain in the Languedoc- ...

(between

Agde Agde (; ) is a commune in the Hérault department in Southern France. It is the Mediterranean port of the Canal du Midi. Location Agde is located on the Hérault river, from the Mediterranean Sea, and from Paris. The Canal du Midi con ...

and

Sète Sète (; oc, Seta, ), also historically spelt ''Cette'' (official until 1928) and ''Sette'', is a commune in the Hérault department, in the region of Occitania, southern France. Its inhabitants are called ''Sétois'' (male) and ''Sétoises' ...

). The Canal du Midi is a

summit-level canal A summit-level canal is an artificial waterway connecting two separate river valleys. The term refers to a canal that rises to cross a summit then falls down the other side. The summit pound is a level stretch of water at the highest part of the ...

, climbing from Toulouse on the Atlantic side over a distance of to the

or summit level, where the feeder canal enters. The total rise is , and the summit level is at an altitude of . This difference in level down to the sea is covered over the remaining distance of from Naurouze to Les Onglous on the Étang de Thau. The design canal depth is with a minimum of . The draft allowed is although regular users advise that even with boats will occasionally touch the bottom because of silt deposits in many places. The width on the surface is on average with variations between and . Finally, the width of the canal bed is . This longitudinal profile of the Canal du Midi shows it rising from Toulouse (1) to the

(2), then dropping down to Castelnaudary (3), Carcassonne (4) and Trèbes (5). The canal continues to

Béziers Béziers (; oc, Besièrs) is a Subprefectures in France, subprefecture of the Hérault Departments of France, department in the Occitania (administrative region), Occitanie Regions of France, region of Southern France. Every August Béziers hos ...

after the passing through the

Fonserannes Lock Fonseranes Locks (french: écluses de Fonseranes, ) are a flight of staircase locks on the Canal du Midi near Béziers. They consist of eight oval-shaped lock chambers, characteristic of the Canal du Midi, and nine gates, which allow boats t ...

s (6), then

(7), to finish at

on the

(8). The longest canal pound is between

Argens Lock Argens Lock is a single chamber lock on the Canal du Midi. It lies east of the small town of Argens in the Aude region of Languedoc, France. The adjacent locks are Fonserannes Lock 53,868 metres to the east and Pechlaurier Lock 2485 metres to t ...

and the

s, while the shortest Canal pound is between the two Fresquel locks.René Gast, ''The Canal du Midi and the Canals from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean'', éditions Ouest-France, 2000, , p. 22

Legal status

For historical reasons, the Canal du Midi has a unique legal status, which was codified in 1956A. Homont, noted by the Conseil d'État, ''Ministry of Public Works and Transport c. Dame Boudet'', 3 May 1963, ''Judicial Topics: administrative right'', 1963, p. 489-490. in the ''Public Code of waterways and inland navigation'', then in the ''General code of the property of public persons''. Under Article L. 2111-11 of the Code, the public domain of the canal is determined by reference to the fief once granted to

and limits were set by the official report drawn up in 1772. The staff quarters and warehouses, as well as the Lampy reservoir, were also added. 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. Under the Act of 27 November 1897, the State of France owns the Canal du Midi and its management is delegated to the public body Voies Navigables de France, attached to the Ministry of Transport.

History

Abandoned projects

The building of a canal was an old idea. Numerous and sometimes utopian projects were devised to build a canal between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. Leaders such as Augustus, Nero, Charlemagne, François I, Charles IX and Henry IV had dreamed of it, as it is a true political and economic issue. King François I brought Leonardo da Vinci to France in 1516 and commissioned a survey of a route from the Garonne at Toulouse to the

at Carcassonne. The construction of such a structure would save vessels (of trade but also the king's galleys) and goods from sailing around the Iberian Peninsula which could take a month to complete. At that time shipping was fraught with dangers such as piracy and the

Barbary pirates The Barbary pirates, or Barbary corsairs or Ottoman corsairs, were Muslim pirates and privateers who operated from North Africa, based primarily in the ports of Salé, Rabat, Algiers, Tunis and Tripoli, Libya, Tripoli. This area was known i ...

.Franck Ferrand, ''The Great adventure of the Canal du Midi'', transmitted in ''Au cœur de l'histoire'' on Europe 1, 29 May 2013 The most realistic projects were presented to the King in the 16th century. A first draft was presented by Nicolas Bachelier in 1539 to the

Estates of Languedoc The Estates of Languedoc was the provincial assembly for the province of Languedoc during the ancien regime ''Ancien'' may refer to * the French word for "ancient, old" ** Société des anciens textes français * the French for "former, senior" ...

''Canal du Midi''
Structurae, consulted on 20 August 2007. then a second in 1598 by Pierre Reneau and finally a third project was proposed by Bernard Aribat de Béziers in 1617. 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 Pyrénées rivers too complex or impossible to implement. In 1650 another engineer also proposed to divert water from the Ariège to Cintegabelle to bring a non-navigable canal to Pech-David near Toulouse. Again, the question arose of how to carry water to the

at a greater height than that of Toulouse. The projects were not launched for fear of losing too much money and conviction of the human impossibility to dig such a canal. The major problem was how to supply the summit sections with enough water.Chandra Mukerji, ''Impossible Engineering'' Princeton: Princeton University Press, 304 pages, Jean-Denis Bergasse ''Le Canal du Midi'' Cessenon: J-D Bergasse 1982-1984, . Nevertheless,

, a wealthy collector of

salt tax A salt tax refers to the direct taxation of salt, usually levied proportionately to the volume of salt purchased. The taxation of salt dates as far back as 300BC, as salt has been a valuable good used for gifts and religious offerings since 6050B ...

in Languedoc proposed a more convincing project than his predecessors. When Louis XIV received his proposal through the

Archbishop of Toulouse The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Toulouse (–Saint Bertrand de Comminges–Rieux) ( la, Archidioecesis Tolosana (–Convenarum–Rivensis); French: ''Archidiocèse de Toulouse (–Saint-Bertrand de Comminges–Rieux-Volvestre)''; Occitan: ''A ...

(Charles-François Anglure of Bourlemont) in 1662 he saw the opportunity to deprive Spain of part of its resources, and the opportunity to mark his reign with an imperishable work. Lettre Riquet-Colbert 15-11-1662

English translation:

Study of the project

Compared to canals, managing rivers is difficult but only one canal is required between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. Unlike a river, it is easier to manage the flow of a canal to ensure a constant flow of traffic throughout the year. The Canal du Midi is a

because it must pass over a height between two valleys. The construction of this canal required passage through the

or the Seuil de Graissens. Thirty years passed from the start of planning to the commencement of work: a similar project was also studied by a committee of which Riquet's father was a member.

Highlights

In 1660, Riquet found the solution to the main problem: the water supply to the summit point to feed both sides of the canal. His idea was to get water flowing from the

. His important knowledge of the hydrography of the Montagne Noire and Sor allowed him to imagine an ingenious irrigation system. He was inspired by the French engineer

Adam de Craponne Adam de Craponne (; 1526–1576) was a French engineer. He built the eponymous Canal de Craponne to irrigate the ''Désert de la Crau''. He was poisoned while fortifying Nantes for King Henry III of France during the French Wars of Religion Earl ...

who had implemented the same system for the Craponne Canal. Canal du Midi Schleusenschild

For this, he planned to recover the mountain waters in dams and reservoirs and then forward them to the

through channels crossing the Seuil de Graissens. The water from the Sor passing near

Revel Revel may refer to: Brands and enterprises * Revel (brand), a French brand from the 1920s * Parapluie Revel, a French umbrella from the 1920s * Revel Atlantic City, a former resort and casino in New Jersey * Revel Audio, a loudspeaker company o ...

was the main supply envisaged by Riquet. Other rivers from the Montagne Noire were also part of the system such as the Alzeau, the Laudot, the Rieutort, the Bernassonne, and the . The Montagne Noire is a region with twice the rainfall of the plain of

Lauragais The Lauragais () is an area of the south-west of France that is south-east of Toulouse. The Lauragais, a former county in the south-west of France, takes its name from the town of Laurac and has a large area. It covers both sides of the Canal ...

with 1400 millimetres per year at around above sea level. To store the river water he planned to create three basins: the Reservoir of Lampy-Vieux, a hexagonal harbour basin at Naurouze, and the

Bassin de Saint-Ferréol The Bassin de Saint-Ferréol (Languedocien: ''Lac de Sant Ferriòl'') was created as the result of a large earth dam across the mouth of the valley of Laudot stream at St. Ferréol in the Montagne Noire. It was originally proposed by Chevalier de ...

with a large earth dam across the mouth of the valley of the Laudot stream. In 1664, during the study of the project, the

asked Riquet to put into practice his idea experimentally. He then built a test channel diverting water from the Sor to the

. It was the

Rigole de la plaine The critical feature of the Canal du Midi was to provide sufficient water to ensure that the lock system continued to function, even through the summer months. The first part of this endeavor was the ''rigole de la plaine'' (french: trickle of th ...

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.Michel Cotte, ''Canal du Midi, marvel of Europe'', Paris: Belin, 2003, 191 pages, , p. 26. This was the event that reassured the Committee of Experts that the king had set up on site to inspect the choices and plans prepared by Riquet. From that moment Louis XIV knew that the canal was technically feasible.

Inaccuracies by Pierre-Paul Riquet

Riquet studied in depth the supply of water to the canal at the Seuil de Naurouze. His study appeared rigorous and included a pilot phase with the construction of the

to substantiate his claim. The project still remained unclear in many respects especially the route of the canal. This route was not final and was not precise as it would be today for a highway project or high-speed railway. Only the directions of the route were known and plotted on a map. Changes in the route could be made by the Contractor depending on the difficulties he encountered on the ground. On the Atlantic side, he proposed several layouts: one to pass by Castres and

through the Seuil de Graissens and Agout. In fact, this river was already under development for navigation. Another route would pass by the Girou river and avoid Toulouse as in the preceding route. On the Mediterranean side, the route was not set. He would use the Fresquel until the

but the arrival on the coast was first intended to be at Narbonne then at

. In 1663 Riquet conducted field studies to finally fix the path on the Atlantic side by the seuil de Naurouze along the valley of the

Hers-Vif The Hers-Vif (, "Live Hers", as opposed to the slower flowing Hers-Mort, "Dead Hers"), also named ''Grand Hers'' or simply ''Hers'', is a long river in southern France, right tributary of the Ariège. The Hers-Vif rises at an elevation of about ...

to Toulouse downstream of the Garonne. The navigable part of the river is downstream of

Bazacle The Bazacle is a structure in and on the banks of the River Garonne in the French city of Toulouse. It originated as a ford across the river Garonne, used from the 12th century onwards. The name ''bazacle'' comes from the Latin word ''vadaculum'' ...

which was a ford in the centre of Toulouse, blocking navigation. 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.

Study techniques

Pierre-Paul Riquet had no technical training and learnt on the job. He regularly practised experiments and field observations. His technique remained highly empirical because at that time applied science and hydraulic techniques through laws or concepts had not been mastered. Even so, Riquet had a scientific approach as he systematically took measurements of

flow Flow may refer to: Science and technology * Fluid flow, the motion of a gas or liquid * Flow (geomorphology), a type of mass wasting or slope movement in geomorphology * Flow (mathematics), a group action of the real numbers on a set * Flow (psych ...

and made calculations of volumes. In addition, to overcome his technical shortcomings, he was surrounded by many technicians such as Hector Boutheroüe,

François Andreossy François () is a French language, French masculine given name and surname, equivalent to the English name Francis (given name), Francis. People with the given name * Francis I of France, King of France (), known as "the Father and Restorer of ...

surveyor and cartographer, and

Pierre Campmas Pierre Campmas, of Revel, assisted Pierre-Paul Riquet in his earliest design of the Canal du Midi. He helped Riquet confirm that the valleys of the Montagne Noire The Montagne Noire ( oc, Montanha Negra, known as the 'Black Mountain' in English ...

an expert in water flows. He set up experiments to prove that it was possible to bring the water to the

from the river Sor in the

. At his own expense, of 200,000 livres, he built a test canal, only two feet wide, and on the 9 November 1665 he opened the flow successfully. When the canal was authorized the next year, this test rigole would become the

. He also built on his property in

Bonrepos Bonrepos is a commune in the Hautes-Pyrénées department in southwestern France. Population See also *Communes of the Hautes-Pyrénées department An intentional community is a voluntary residential community which is designed to have a ...

a model of the canal with locks, tunnels, and ''épanchoirs'' (spillways) reproducing the slopes and feeding all with water.

Political and economic context

The economic situation of the country was quite difficult at the time. When Colbert became minister he believed that domestic and international trade was not in favour of the Kingdom of France. The Dutch could take better advantage of trade and economic activity in the country. The prices of

Grain A grain is a small, hard, dry fruit (caryopsis) – with or without an attached hull layer – harvested for human or animal consumption. A grain crop is a grain-producing plant. The two main types of commercial grain crops are cereals and legum ...

dropped a lot and wine production fell in 1660. This crisis caused depreciation of land values and small farms were going bankrupt. In addition, the region of Languedoc experienced religious conflict during the Fronde. It was difficult to implement a policy in this area and in particular to introduce taxes such as the

. Colbert then saw Pierre-Paul Riquet and his project as a way to pursue a policy of economic expansion in the service of absolutism in Languedoc. In fact, Riquet proposed himself to implement the salt tax and to build the Canal du Midi. 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 The Strait of Gibraltar ( ar, مضيق جبل طارق, Maḍīq Jabal Ṭāriq; es, Estrecho de Gibraltar, Archaic: Pillars of Hercules), also known as the Straits of Gibraltar, is a narrow strait that connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Medi ...

controlled by the Spaniards, the aim being to destroy the Spanish trade and establish a commercial flow through Languedoc. The Languedoc region had many resources such as wheat, wine from

Minervois Minervois is an AOC in the Languedoc-Roussillon wine region, in the departments of the Aude and of the Herault. Historically, the region's capital has been the village of Minerve. AOC regulations require the wine to be blended (at least 2 variet ...

, woollen cloth, silk, and salt which producers were struggling to export due to lack of trade. By passing through the Canal du Midi, Colbert hoped to distribute goods in the different regions of '' le Midi'' to strengthen royal power and open up Toulouse and its region.

The edict of Louis XIV and the financing of the project

Despite a project that seemed precarious, Colbert authorized commencement of work by a royal edict in October 1666 after the approval of a committee of experts that looked at the route of the canal for several months. The project benefited significantly from the appointment of an engineer for fortifications and hydraulics –

Louis Nicolas de Clerville Louis Nicolas de Clerville, a.k.a. Chevalier de Clerville, held many military positions during his life in France in 1610–1677. He was associated with Pierre-Paul Riquet and the building of the Canal du Midi. Clerville played an important rol ...

– who used his influence with Colbert to start the project. The decree specified the authorization of the construction of the canal, its issuing of

invitations to tender Invitation or The Invitation may refer to: Films * ''Invitation'' (1952 film), an MGM film starring Dorothy McGuire and Van Johnson * ''The Invitation'' (1973 film), a Swiss film * ''The Invitation'' (2003 film), an American film starring Lance H ...

, and its awarding to the designer, Pierre-Paul Riquet, and his descendants. It also gave rights of expropriation to Riquet and describes the possibility of creating mills, warehouses and housing for the operation of the canal. The project formed a tax-exempt "fief" whose owner had the rights of fishing and

hunting Hunting is the human activity, human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, or killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to harvest food (i.e. meat) and useful animal products (fur/hide (skin), hide, ...

. Finally, it describes the operating procedures including the introduction of tolls, traffic organization, and ownership of vessels. The king decided to cede the ownership and operation of the facility in a particular order to overcome the potential drawbacks of a work so great. This system ensured the continued maintenance and operation of the canal even if the state's finances are at their lowest. The work was launched in two phases each called an "enterprise". The first enterprise of connecting Toulouse to Trèbes was estimated at 3.6 million

livres The (; ; abbreviation: ₶.) was one of numerous currencies used in medieval France, and a unit of account (i.e., a monetary unit used in accounting) used in Early Modern France. The 1262 monetary reform established the as 20 , or 80.88 gr ...

. The finances of the State, however, were not very sound and the

were not willing to fund such a project for fear that their funds would be used for unexpected expenses. 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. The rest was to be paid by the State in exchange for profits that Riquet earned from the salt tax. The second enterprise of works between Trèbes and the

in December 1668 cost 5.832 million

plus a million more livres for the resumption of work on the port of Sète. Ultimately, while the initial budget was six million livres, all the work together would cost between 17 and 18 million livres of the time, 40% was advanced by the King, 40% by the province, and 20% by Riquet himself, who became the owner. His descendants continued to pay two million livres for over 50 years.

Construction of the canal

At the age of 63, Riquet started his great enterprise, sending his personal engineer,

, and a local water expert, Pierre Roux, to the

to work on the water supply. This supply system successfully fed the canal with water where it crossed the continental divide, replacing water that drained toward the two seas. The system was a masterpiece of both hydraulic and structural engineering, and served as an early ratification of Riquet's vision. It was also a major part of the massive undertaking. Work began on the first "enterprise" on 1 January 1667 with the construction of the trough of the

then continued on 15 April 1667 with the laying of the first stone of the

Lac de Saint-Ferréol Lac is the resinous secretion of a number of species of lac insects, of which the most commonly cultivated is ''Kerria lacca''. Cultivation begins when a farmer gets a stick that contains eggs ready to hatch and ties it to the tree to be infes ...

.René Gast, ''The Canal du Midi and the Navigable waterways from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean'', Rennes: Ed. Ouest-France, 2000, 125 pages, , p. 18. Originally Riquet wanted to build a dozen reservoirs but the Commissioner General of fortifications,

, asked him to replace them with a single reservoir. This was a great novelty at the time – no reservoir-lake of this magnitude had ever been built before. Some of Clerville's men with experience in military engineering came, to build the huge dam for the single reservoir, the

Bassin de St. Ferréol Bassin may refer to: People * Elieser Bassin (1840–1898), British Israelist * Mark Bassin, British geographer * Sherwood Bassin (born 1939), Canadian ice hockey executive Other uses * The Grand Bassin, the largest body of open water along the C ...

, on the river Laudot. The Laudot is a tributary of the Tarn in the Montagne Noire some from the summit of the proposed canal at

. This massive dam, long, above the riverbed and thick at its base was the largest work of civil engineering in Europe and only the second major dam to be built in Europe, after one in

Alicante Alicante ( ca-valencia, Alacant) is a city and municipality in the Valencian Community, Spain. It is the capital of the province of Alicante and a historic Mediterranean port. The population of the city was 337,482 , the second-largest in th ...

in Spain. It was connected to the Canal du Midi by a contoured channel over long, wide with a base width of . 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

In November 1667 an official ceremony laid the foundation stone of the Garonne lock in Toulouse in the presence of representatives of the Parliament of Toulouse, the ''

Capitouls The ''capitouls'', sometimes anglicized as ''capitols'', were the chief magistrates of the commune of Toulouse, France, during the late Middle Ages and early Modern period. Their council and rule was known as the ''Capitoulate'' (french: c ...

'' (sheriffs), and the

, Charles-François d'Anglure de Bourlemont. A first filling of water was made between the seuil de Naurouze and Toulouse during the winter of 1671–1672 and the first boat traffic could begin. In 1673 the section from Naurouze to Trèbes was completed marking the end of the first "enterprise". From 1671 the second enterprise began linking Trèbes to the Mediterranean Sea and to build the port of

(then called ''Cette'', the location was chosen and the port constructed by Clerville). This part of the canal posed problems at the junction between the

and Trèbes because the canal must cross the course of the Hérault and the Libron. To work around the problem, Riquet set up a system of valves and chambers for Libron and a round lock with three doors for the

and the Hérault. The round lock at

could switch between a reach of the Canal du Midi and the Hérault. This part of the canal was also a problem at the level of the seuil of Ensérune and the descent to Beziers in the valley of the

Orb Orb or Orbs may refer to: * Sphere * Globus Cruciger Ceremonial Orb Places and rivers * Orb (river), in southern France * Orb (Kinzig), a tributary of the Kinzig river in Germany * Bad Orb, a town in Hesse, Germany Literature, radio, film, ...

. Riquet solved these problems on the one hand by digging the

Malpas Tunnel The Malpas tunnel carries the Canal du Midi under the d'Ensérune hill in Hérault, France. Excavated in 1679, it was Europe's first navigable canal tunnel and is a monument to the determination of Pierre-Paul Riquet, the chief engineer. It is lo ...

and secondly by building at Fonserannes a row of eight lock chambers to the Orb. The

was the first canal passage ever built through a tunnel. The Canal du Midi passes through a tunnel through a hill at the Oppidum d'Ensérune. In 1681 work on the canal ended at Béziers. However, in October 1680, Riquet died during construction. He did not see the end of the project. It was the king's engineer, ''La Feuille'', who took over. His sons inherited the canal, but the family's investments were not recovered and debts not fully paid until over 100 years later. The canal was well managed and run as a paternalistic enterprise until the revolution. Pompertuzat - Pont Deyme (2)

The canal was built on a grand scale, with oval shaped locks long, wide at the gates and wide in the middle. This design was intended to resist the collapse of the walls that happened early in the project. The oval locks used the strength of the arch against the inward pressure of the surrounding soil that had destabilized the early locks with straight walls. Such arches had been used by the Romans for retaining walls in Gaul, so this technique was not new, but its application to locks was revolutionary and was imitated in early American canals. Many of the structures were designed with neoclassical elements to further echo the king's ambitions to make France a New Rome. The Canal du Midi as a grand piece of infrastructural engineering in itself was promoted as worthy of Rome and the political dreams behind it were clarified with plaques in Latin, and walls built with Roman features. In May 1681 the channel was thoroughly inspected by order of the king to check the work and the water-tightness of the canal. It was then officially opened to navigation on 15 May 1681. At the inauguration of the canal at Toulouse on 15 May, the King's steward and the president of the

travelled first on the canal followed by many other boats carrying particularly wheat. After the maiden voyage, the canal was drained as the work was not complete; it would not be reopened until December 1682. The canal was opened to traffic in May 1683 and stopped receiving public works in March 1685.

Work organization and social conditions

France Canal du Midi épanchoir de Naurouze

For fifteen years nearly 12,000 workers worked on the construction of the canal. Riquet hired men and women between 20 and 50 years old whom he organized in sections forming workshops led by a controller-general. This rationalization of work permitted the optimisation of tasks and allowed several projects to be performed at the same time. All of the work was manual and the digging of the canal was with shovels and pickaxes. The workforce was made up of farmers and local workers whose number varied from one period to another during the year. Pierre-Paul Riquet appealed to the military to compensate for this fluctuation. He also set up monthly payments of workers for their loyalty. He also offered accommodation for two deniers per day. The women labourers were surprisingly important to the canal's engineering. Many came from former Roman bath colonies in the Pyrenees, where elements of classical hydraulics had been maintained as a living tradition. They were employed at first to move earth to the dam at Saint Ferréol, but their supervisors, who were struggling to design the channels from the dam to the canal, recognized their expertise. Engineering in this period was mainly focused on fortress construction, and hydraulics was concerned mostly with mining and problems of drainage. 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. They not only perfected the water supply system for the canal but also threaded the waterway through the mountains near Béziers, using few locks, and built the eight-lock staircase at Fonserannes. The financial and social conditions of employment of the workers were very favourable and unusual for the time. To retain his workforce, Riquet paid his workers well enough. More importantly, he gave benefits never before seen such as non-working rain days, Sundays and public holidays, and finally paid sick leave. The

employment contract An employment contract or contract of employment is a kind of contract used in labour law to attribute rights and responsibilities between parties to a bargain. The contract is between an "employee" and an "employer". It has arisen out of the old ...

was individual and done by free recruitment. Pay was, at the beginning, 20 sols (1 livre) per day, double the agricultural wage. Discontent from farm owners, however, forced Riquet to reduce pay to 15, then 12 sols per day. In 1668 he established the monthly payment of 10

Trades and work measures implemented

Many trades were found on the work sites of the canal in addition to the seasonal workers who were most often farmers. The

masons Mason may refer to: Occupations * Mason, brick mason, or bricklayer, a craftsman who lays bricks to construct brickwork, or who lays any combination of stones, bricks, cinder blocks, or similar pieces * Stone mason, a craftsman in the stone-cutt ...

and

stonecutters Stonemasonry or stonecraft is the creation of buildings, structures, and sculpture using stone as the primary material. It is one of the oldest activities and professions in human history. Many of the long-lasting, ancient shelters, temples, mo ...

were responsible for the construction of structures such as bridges, locks, and spillways. The blacksmiths and levellers were responsible for the maintenance of the tools and equipment. Carters and carriers, the Farriers and owners of sawmills were also requisitioned for the works. Workers were organized into sections controlled by captains and sergeants. Finally, Pierre-Paul Riquet was surrounded by aides as well as auditor-generals and inspector-generals of the canal. The workers' tools were very limited: picks, hoes and shovels to dig, baskets and stretchers to transport materials. They were provided to workers who must maintain them themselves. Gunpowder was used to blast the rocks.

Inauguration

In 1681 the first inspection took place "dry". The king appointed a commission composed of Henri d'Aguessau, steward of Languedoc, Mr de la Feuille, Father Mourgues a Jesuit professor of

rhetoric Rhetoric () is the art of persuasion, which along with grammar and logic (or dialectic), is one of the three ancient arts of discourse. Rhetoric aims to study the techniques writers or speakers utilize to inform, persuade, or motivate parti ...

and mathematics at the University of Toulouse, two sons and two in-laws of Pierre-Paul Riquet, as well as Messrs. Andréossy, Gilade, and Contigny. This commission embarked for Beziers on 2 May 1681 and went up the canal back to Toulouse over six days. The filling with water had been done showing a measure of the progress of checks to Castelnaudary (the section Toulouse-Castelnaudary had water since 1672). The inauguration itself took place just after the first inspection. The same people re-embarked at Toulouse on 15 May 1681 on a flagship boat followed by dozens of other boats. The Cardinal de Bonzi, Archbishop of Narbonne and President-born of the

joined the procession which arrived at Castelnaudary on 17 May. 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. The convoy resumed its progress on 20 May with stops in the evening at Villepinte, on the 21st at Penautier, the 22nd at Puicheric, and the 23rd at Roubia. On 24 May it was the passage through the

then crossing the locks of Fonsérannes. The cardinal and the bishops went down to Beziers on the same day.

Supplementary works

In 1686, Vauban was made responsible for inspecting the channel which he quickly found was in a dilapidated state. He then ordered Antoine Niquet, the engineer of fortifications for Languedoc, to carry out new work at the

level to drill the Cammazes Tunnel to extend the

Rigole de la montagne The rigole de la montagne ( en, trickle of the mountain) was an important facet of the Canal du Midi, engineered by Pierre-Paul Riquet in southern France. The canal itself was built during 1666-1681. A critical aspect of the Canal du Midi was the ...

and strengthen the

. In his haste, Riquet had underestimated the number of rivers that in case of a flood would silt up and swell the canal. The barrage of Saint-Ferréol was too small and its supply system was inefficient. Vauban also built many masonry structures to isolate the many rivers that flow into the canal and spillways to regulate the water level. He built 49 culverts and aqueducts, including the

Cesse aqueduct Cesse Aqueduct (french: Pont-Canal de la Cesse) is one of several aqueducts, or water bridge, created for the Canal du Midi. Originally, the canal crossed the Cesse on the level. Pierre-Paul Riquet, the original architect of the canal, had place ...

, the Orbiel aqueduct and the Pechlaurier culvert. Finally, he reinforced a lot of works and dams originally built by Riquet. This series of works, which lasted until 1694, greatly improved the supply and management of water. Antoine Niquet was responsible for monitoring the canal until 1726. The Canal du Midi still had shortcomings because it did not pass through Carcassonne nor Narbonne and did not join the Rhône. In addition, to reach Bordeaux, it was necessary to take the Garonne which has variable flow rates and violent floods. The ''Canal de Jonction'' or 'junction canal', built in 1776, gave access to Narbonne via the

Canal de la Robine de Narbonne The La Nouvelle branch (french: embranchement de La Nouvelle)It is also sometimes referred to as or . is a branch of the Canal du Midi in Aude, southern France which runs from the Canal du Midi through Narbonne and on to the Mediterranean. It is ...

. The same year the

Canal de Brienne The Canal de Brienne, also known as Canal de Saint-Pierre, is a French canal connecting the Garonne River with the Canal du Midi and the Canal de Garonne. It has two locks. The lock opening to the Garonne is known as Ecluse Saint-Pierre. The lo ...

allowed the bypass of

- the ford on the Garonne in Toulouse which blocked the river. The connection between the

and the Rhone was also completed in 1808. In 1810 a diversion canal allowed Carcassonne to be connected. Finally, in 1857 the

Canal latéral à la Garonne Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface flow und ...

was opened between Toulouse and

Castets-en-Dorthe Castets-en-Dorthe (; Gascon: ''Castèths Andòrta'') is a former commune in the Gironde department in Nouvelle-Aquitaine in southwestern France. On 1 January 2017, it was merged into the new commune Castets et Castillon. Channel management was ensured primarily by the descendants of Riquet. This was through the elder son Jean-Mathias who took control of the fief until 1714, then Victor-Pierre-François until 1760, then Victor-Maurice, and finally Jean-Gabriel. 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. Seven zones were defined in the west and the east: Toulouse, Naurouze, Castelnaudary, Trèbes

Le Somail Le Somail is a hamlet in the Aude department of southwestern France. Le Somail is located along the Canal du Midi. Its territory is shared by 3 communes: Ginestas, Saint-Nazaire-d'Aude and Sallèles-d'Aude. History In the 17th century, the t ...

, Beziers, and

. Each Director is responsible for maintenance of his zone and is supported by a receiver and a controller. Hundreds of lock-keepers are responsible for the locks. This organization facilitates the control and hiring of employees. In Toulouse, a group of three people form a steering committee: the director general of works, the Receiver General who sets the fees, and the Comptroller General in charge of accounting. Canal management ensures the supply of money to pay for various works and staff hired for the canal. In the 1770s a tax report showed an income of 640,000

, half of which went to maintenance and salaries, and half the profits and funds were exceptional works. In 1785 this benefit increased to 950,000 livres which was a very large sum for the time.

Maintenance

The maintenance of the canal was a real problem for the descendants of Riquet. Despite many precautions, the canal silts up with silt from the water supply. In addition, it fills with the branches and leaves of trees. Every winter, a period of closure allows the cleaning of the canal. It is necessary to re-dig the canal bed every year for two months. These works are expensive and two months is not always sufficient. Another problem is the invasion of the canal by weeds in the levels and spillways. There is no way to eradicate this scourge. In 1820 dredging was set up to pull up the weeds and the mud layer. Finally, rain,

frost Frost is a thin layer of ice on a solid surface, which forms from water vapor in an above-freezing atmosphere coming in contact with a solid surface whose temperature is below freezing, and resulting in a phase change from water vapor (a gas) ...

, and drought forces managers to keep an eye all along the canal to repair leaks and cracks that might open. Today, the channel is subject to the same constraints and managers must perform the same work. They are now mechanized. 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.

Operational history of the canal

Once used to transport goods and people, the Canal du Midi is now mainly used by boaters and other tourists. Canal du Midi, Vias, Hérault (06)

Initially, the canal appears to have been mainly used by small sailing barges with easily lowered masts, bow-hauled by gangs of men. By the middle of the 18th century, horse towing had largely taken over and steam tugs came in 1834 to cross the Étang. 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. A "malle-poste" postal service was set up on boats along the canal. As for the

Stagecoach A stagecoach is a four-wheeled public transport coach used to carry paying passengers and light packages on journeys long enough to need a change of horses. It is strongly sprung and generally drawn by four horses although some versions are draw ...

for the mail, the boats were pulled by horses on towpaths. This type of transport was considered revolutionary thanks to its regularity, comfort, safety, and speed that were an improvement over the road. In addition, the canal could be travelled throughout the year. The journey takes four days from Toulouse to

. This time was reduced to 32 hours in 1855 which corresponds to a speed of thanks to the replacement of horses every According to the exposition ''Evocation of the canal du Midi'' in the area of the autoroute of Port-Lauragais in the commune of

Avignonet-Lauragais Avignonet-Lauragais (; oc, Avinhonet de Lauragués) is a commune in the Haute-Garonne department in southwestern France. History In 1242 Avignonet-Lauragais was the site of a massacre of Inquisitors by members of a heretical garrison at the ...

. pulling boats. In addition rather than cross multiple locks travellers were transferred from one vessel to another which saved time and saved water used for the opening of the locks. Finally, the journeys also took place at night to save even more time. In 1684, travel from Toulouse to Agde cost one livre and a half. The rate was set per

league League or The League may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Leagues'' (band), an American rock band * ''The League'', an American sitcom broadcast on FX and FXX about fantasy football Sports * Sports league * Rugby league, full contact footba ...

with the rates displayed on a sign. Thus, a

bourgeois The bourgeoisie ( , ) is a social class, equivalent to the middle or upper middle class. They are distinguished from, and traditionally contrasted with, the proletariat by their affluence, and their great cultural and financial capital. They ...

paid three sols per league while a valet or a sailor paid one and a half sols per league. Payment offices were located along the route. Each office indicated the rate and provided the distances between each office. The Canal relied on wheat and wine traffic in Languedoc which was its main purpose. This commercial traffic had the effect of enriching the descendants of Riquet very quickly. The wheat, wine, and

alcohol Alcohol most commonly refers to: * Alcohol (chemistry), an organic compound in which a hydroxyl group is bound to a carbon atom * Alcohol (drug), an intoxicant found in alcoholic drinks Alcohol may also refer to: Chemicals * Ethanol, one of sev ...

could be exported from

to Toulouse, Bordeaux, and Marseille. The canal had the effect of broadening the sales area of the producers of Languedoc. In the 1730s commerce thrived and greatly improved agricultural businesses. The canal also allowed the import to Languedoc of products from other regions such as Marseille soap, rice,

starch Starch or amylum is a polymeric carbohydrate consisting of numerous glucose units joined by glycosidic bonds. This polysaccharide is produced by most green plants for energy storage. Worldwide, it is the most common carbohydrate in human diets ...

, dried fish, and spices and

dye A dye is a colored substance that chemically bonds to the substrate to which it is being applied. This distinguishes dyes from pigments which do not chemically bind to the material they color. Dye is generally applied in an aqueous solution an ...

s. However, it was never the grand international route envisaged by the kings of France as its traffic was limited to local and national trade. Freight rates depend on the cargo. Thus in the 17th century, the transportation of wheat cost 12 deniers per quintal and that of oats 6 deniers per quintal.

The boats

Péniche Le Tourville écluse de l Aiguille Canal-du-Midi

At its opening the canal was used by a majority of boats for the transport of goods. These vessels were twenty metres long and were hauled by horses or men.René Gast, ''The Canal du Midi and the Navigable waterways from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean'', Rennes : Ed. Ouest-France, 2000, 125 pages, , p. 25. The tonnage of vessels increased over the centuries, from 60 tonnes at the beginning to 120 tonnes at the start of the 19th century. The proper Canal Barges were called "owned barge" or "canal barge" and also plied the route. In 1778 there were about 250 barges. In 1914, there were 126 "owned boats", 70 rented boats, 300 horses, and 75 mules. In the year 1930 motor barges had completely replaced animal traction. They relaunched in part the merchant traffic on the canal but commercial and merchant inland water shipping finally disappeared around the late 1980s. The year 1856 was a record year for merchant activity with more than 110 million tonnes-kilometres of cargo and nearly 100,000 passengers carried. For 250 years, horses have pulled many boats such as fast barges or long commercial boats. A horse can tow up to 120 times its weight when the load is on the water. Animal traction was then a strategic element in the operation of a canal. The mail-barges or "post vehicles" which transported passengers were boats many metres long with a simple shelter on the deck. These boats evolved to become faster and more luxurious with lounges and were very large since the largest could reach long. Services inside these vessels also evolved with first class in private salons and second class in a common room. During the heyday of the canal some boats included first class lounges where dinner was served.

Influence on Hungary

In the 1820s the Hungarian reformer István Széchenyi visited France and was greatly impressed with the Canal du Midi in France. It inspired him to envision ways to improve navigation on the lower Danube and Tisza, which he implemented later in his career .

Rail competition

Toulouse gare matabiau canal du midi postcard

Curiously, the canal did not really serve its purpose. The economic and political context hindered the economic development that had been expected. After two hundred years of operation, the canal began to suffer from competition from rail and road. It reached its peak in the middle of the 19th century. 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. This act had the effect of amplifying the decline in boat traffic on the canal. The company primarily promoted the railway and placed higher freight rates on commercial traffic in the canal. The Canal du Midi had the highest rates of any of France's waterway. In addition, the railway became smoother and faster than the waterway especially as the Canal du Midi suffered from its limited tonnage. The period before 1859 corresponded to the canal operating without competition while from 1859 the installation of railways in the south of France began. The effect of rail competition is clearly visible in the table with the halving of freight traffic between 1856 and 1879. The traffic then continued to decline gradually. As for the railway, the

Bordeaux–Sète railway The railway from Bordeaux to Sète is an important French 476-kilometre long railway line, that connects the southwestern port city Bordeaux (on the Bay of Biscay) to the southern port Sète (on the Mediterranean) via Toulouse and Narbonne. The ...

carried almost 200 million tonne-kilometres in 1860. Management of the canal was taken over by the State in 1898 who made successive investments to maintain its competitiveness. 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.

The end of merchant traffic

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 The Freycinet gauge (french: gabarit Freycinet) is a standard governing the dimensions of the locks of some canals, put in place as a result of a law passed during the tenure of Charles de Freycinet as minister of public works of France, dating fr ...

. The canals of northern France were already at this level and had traffic well above the Canal du Midi. However, the law remained unimplemented due to lack of funds. At the end of the First World War traffic was completely disorganized. In 1920 freight traffic recovered rapidly with the arrival of motorised barges. The HPLM company (Le Havre-Paris-Lyon-Marseille) operated 30 boats on the Canal du Midi. The Second World War saw a slowdown in traffic due to the shortage of oil but recovery was rapid after the conflict and the traffic reached 110 million km. However, the canal suffered from a size too small for later barges with high tonnage. Rail became more and more competitive and road transport also became a second competitor. The Canal du Midi became the third means of transport. Freight traffic ceased in the 1970s. In 1980 there were only two barges (the ''Bacchus'', a wine carrier and the ''Espérance'', a grain carrier) carrying regular traffic between Toulouse and

: they definitively ceased their activities in 1989 following the cessation of navigation pronounced by the Prefect of the Region due to drought. In 1991 operation of the canal was assigned to the administration of '' Voies navigables de France'' who remain managers today.

The canal in the 21st century

From the end of the 20th century, the canal has offered many activities. It can again play its original role in allowing the transit of boats between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea.

A canal for tourism and recreation

The Canal du Midi is now used primarily by tourists, recreation, and housing. It attracts more and more river tourism, including sailing on chartered boats, restaurant-boats, or hotel barges such as the

Anjodi ''Anjodi'', was built to carry freight on the waterways of the Netherlands, Belgium and France but has been converted to a hotel barge. History ''Anjodi'' is a Luxe motor Dutch steel barge built as a trading barge in Groningen, Netherlands in 1 ...

. Tourism has grown from the 1960s, most significantly from Britain, and then exploded in the 1980s. The canal was featured prominently in the BBC television series ''

Rick Stein Rick may refer to: People *Rick (given name), a list of people with the given name *Alan Rick (born 1976), Brazilian politician, journalist, pastor and television personality *Johannes Rick (1869–1946), Austrian-born Brazilian priest and mycol ...

's French Odyssey'' (2005), further publicising the canal to a British audience. Busier than the

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, the canal alone accounts for one-fifth of French river tourism and 80% of passengers are foreigners, primarily Germans, Swiss and British. There are approximately 10,000 boat passages per year through the Fonséranes locks, with the most traffic at the Argens lock with 11,000 boats carrying an average of five passengers. 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. Navigation of the channel is open from the third Saturday in March to the first week of November. Outside of this period, navigation can be authorized for individuals who have requested it. The winter period is called the "period of unemployment" and allows the completion of all maintenance work. The Canal du Midi also allows other sports, mainly in urban areas, such as rowing,

canoeing Canoeing is an activity which involves paddling a canoe with a single-bladed paddle. Common meanings of the term are limited to when the canoeing is the central purpose of the activity. Broader meanings include when it is combined with other acti ...

, fishing, cycling, roller-skating, and hiking along the banks. A paved stretch of from Toulouse to

and another of between

and

Portiragnes Portiragnes (; oc, Portiranhas) is a commune in the Hérault department in the Occitanie region in southern France. Geography Climate Portiragnes has a mediterranean climate (Köppen climate classification ''Csa''). The average annual temperatu ...

are particularly suited to cycling and

rollerblading Inline skating is a multi-disciplinary sport and can refer to a number of activities practiced using inline skates. Inline skates typically have two to five polyurethane wheels depending on the style of practice, arranged in a single line by a ...

. It is possible to cycle the entire Canal des Deux Mers from Sète to Bordeaux. In addition, many barges have been converted to family housing, theatres, exhibition spaces, and restaurants.

A canal for water

France Canal du Midi rigole de la plaine

During the dry season, the canal serves as a reservoir for agriculture. Nearly 700 irrigation pumps are installed along the canal. 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. The canal can irrigate up to of agricultural land. The

carries water from the Sor tapped from an offtake at Pont Crouzet for irrigation before emptying into the Canal du Midi. In addition, individual samples are collected from the water on the area between

and the

seuil de Naurouze The Seuil de Naurouze, or Col de Naurouze, is the highest point (190 m above sea level) of the Canal du Midi in southern France. It is the watershed point identified by Pierre-Paul Riquet when he designed and built the canal. Water falling on ...

. In 1980 the

Lac de la Ganguise Lac de la Ganguise (also known as Retenue de l'Estrade) is a lake in Aude, France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions ...

was built near Castelnaudary providing a water reserve of 22 million cubic metres. In 2005 the dam was raised to reach a capacity of 44 million cubic metres. Near the old basin of Naurouze the Naurouze pumping station helps to regulate the water in the Canal du Midi and the lake. An underground pipe, the gallery of Mandore, provides the Naurouze with additional water from the

to Lake Ganguise. Conversely, during the dry season, Lake Ganguise can supply the Canal du Midi if the water supply of the Rigole de la plaine is not enough. The canal has also provided a supply of drinking water through the water treatment plants at Picotalen (Picotalen I and Picotalen II) since 1973. They are part of the installations installed by the Institution for Interdepartmental Hydraulic Planning of Montagne Noire (IIAHMN) since its inception in 1948 to meet the water needs of

. The plant supplies water from the Cammazes channel to nearly 185 communes.

The Canal as heritage

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. It has not been downgraded and remains open for navigation. On 7 December 1996 the channel and a buffer zone of 2,000 km were included in the list of World Heritage Sites by UNESCO. In the same year, it was classified under French law as a ''Grand Site of France''. This classification was extended to the canals of the plain and the mountain in 1996 and 2001. It caused a very rapid increase in tourist numbers. Nevertheless, maintenance has not been carried out completely because many players are involved: three regions, six departments, and local collective authorities. None wish to bear the cost of restoration and do not always dare to launch development programs. '' 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. In addition they are weakened by disease (

canker A plant canker is a small area of dead tissue, which grows slowly, often over years. Some cankers are of only minor consequence, but others are ultimately lethal and therefore can have major economic implications for agriculture and horticultur ...

of ''Platanus''). 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. In addition maintenance costs are higher than in a traditional network because of the age of the canal. Also, the operation of the channel generates low levels of earnings. VNF must try to establish local partnerships to develop and maintain the canal''Report of the Inspector-General of Architecture and Heritage 2003''
p. 11. since its budget does not allow it to provide the care and supervision of of canals. 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. 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

marina A marina (from Spanish , Portuguese and Italian : ''marina'', "coast" or "shore") is a dock or basin with moorings and supplies for yachts and small boats. A marina differs from a port in that a marina does not handle large passenger ships o ...

s in the ports on the canal. 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 Mont-Saint-Michel (; Norman: ''Mont Saint Miché''; ) is a tidal island and mainland commune in Normandy, France. The island lies approximately off the country's north-western coast, at the mouth of the Couesnon River near Avranches and is ...

The structures

The Canal du Midi is long with a total of 328 structures including 63 locks,The number here is the number of separate locations of locks. The numbers given in Locks on the Canal du Midi count the number of individual lock chambers hence the discrepancy 126 bridges, 55 aqueducts, 7 aqueducts, 6 dams, 1 spillway, and 1 tunnel.

Water supply for the canal

It takes 90 million cubic metres of water to feed the canal for one year. To do this, Riquet set up a complex system of water supply to the canal. The idea was to capture the waters of the

located several tens of kilometres away and bring it to the

, the highest point of the future canal, through channels. These channels, called "

" (Channel of the Mountain) and "

" (Channel of the Plain) connected the upper three reservoirs (Lampy, Cammazes, and Saint-Ferréol) at the seuil de Naurouze. The Rigole de la Montagne measured long and has 22 structures between the outlet at Alzeau and the falls of Cammazes. The Rigole de la Plaine measured long at altitude and included 68 structures between the Crouzet bridge and the seuil de Naurouze. Initially, two reservoirs fed the highest point of the canal at the seuil de Naurouze: the

had a capacity of 6.3 million cubic metres and was built between 1667 and 1672. The other reservoir was much smaller - the

Bassin de Lampy The Bassin de Lampy was created during 1777 and 1781 when a dam was placed on the Lampy Valley in the Aude department in south-central France. The reservoir provides a source of water for the Canal du Midi. It was originally proposed in 1665 by ...

. Called "Lampy-Vieux", it was quickly replaced by the "Lampy-Neuf" with a capacity of 1,672,000 cubic metres built over a hundred years later between 1777 and 1782. The

was and remains the main water reservoir for the canal with a surface of . It receives the waters of the Montagne Noire via the Channel of the Mountain which is itself supplied by the basin of Lampy. The lake waters are retained by a dam long and wide consisting of three parallel walls. The channel surrounds the basin and can evacuate any excess water. A museum is located near the outlets and has displays on the history of the construction of the Lake. Originally the engineer planned and built a third reservoir, the Naurouze, but it was abandoned in 1680 due to its excessive silting. Pierre-Paul Riquet had dreamed of the construction of a new city around this basin that never saw the day. A floodway was quickly dug to drain the Naurouze basin from the south. Other reservoirs were also built at Carcassonne to supply the lower part of the canal to the Mediterranean. So the waters of the Fresquel, the Cesse, and the Orbiel augmented those of the canal. On the other hand, the waters of the

at Beziers provided additional flow to part of the canal. In 1957 the Cammazes dam with a capacity of 20 million cubic metres of water was filled on the Sor which completed and finalized the supply network. This lake provides drinking water to more than 200 communes in the region. Of the 20 million cubic metres, 4 million are reserved for feeding the Canal du Midi.

The locks

The first locks built on the Toulouse plain by

were experimental and were not satisfactory. They consisted of rectangular locks with wooden stilts as foundations for the side walls. This form did not properly restrain the lateral material when the lock was empty. They then collapsed on themselves. He redefined the shape of his locks to rounded side walls,Protective walls in the chamber of the lock thicker, and more resistant to the lateral pressure of the earth. The dimensions of the locks were then large enough for the time. Because of these rounded forms, the architecture of the locks in the Canal du Midi is called

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

style. The locks were built in stone and sealed with lime. They are closed by two double leaf doors. The doors, originally timber with the fewest possible metal parts, are subject to severe moisture stress and pressure. They had a "vantelle" (valve) controlled by a

rack and pinion A rack and pinion is a type of linear actuator that comprises a circular gear (the '' pinion'') engaging a linear gear (the ''rack''). Together, they convert rotational motion into linear motion. Rotating the pinion causes the rack to be driven ...

that allowed the draining of water from the lock chamber. The nominal size of the locks built by Pierre-Paul Riquet was long, wide at the door, wide in the centre of the lock and an average of in height. In the 20th century, many locks were changed and therefore no longer have the original features. At the town of

there is a staircase of eight locks at Fonsérannes to bring it to the river

. The locks had to be cut from solid rock, and descended a hillside whose gradient varied. All the locks had to contain the same volume of water, but could not have precisely the same shape. Nonetheless, they were built successfully without a need for repair. This amazing piece of engineering was subcontracted out to two illiterate brothers, the Medhailes, and was built by a workforce composed mainly of women. Some of the locks on the canal are architectural gems. For instance, the Agde Round Lock has three doors: two doors provide access to each side of the channel and the third provides access to the Hérault going to the Mediterranean. This system allows triple access while protecting the canal from river flooding. Similarly, the canal has several multiple locks – i.e. with multiple locks attached to one another. This system saves doors and foundations in areas where the slope is greatest. The best known of these locks is

which has eight chambers. Today most of the locks are electrified which replaced the manual opening of the sluices and lock gates.

The ports

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. Toulouse has two ports: the

port de l'Embouchure The Port de l'Embouchure ( en, Port of Mouth) is one of the two ports located in Toulouse on the Canal du Midi. The other being the Port Saint-Sauveur. This port is located in the basin at the Ponts Jumeaux ( en, Twin Bridges). From the basin ar ...

is located at the junction of the Canal du Midi, the

, and the Lateral canal of the Garonne while

Port Saint-Sauveur The Port Saint-Sauveur is one of the two river ports located in Toulouse on the Canal du Midi The Canal du Midi (; ) is a long canal in Southern France (french: le Midi). Originally named the ''Canal royal en Languedoc'' (Royal Canal in Langue ...

is located in the centre of town near the ''Hall of Grains''. There were two other ports in Toulouse but they were destroyed for urban development. So the ''Port des Minimes'' and the ''Port Saint-Etienne'' were replaced by towpaths. Castelnaudary has a port of called ''Grand Basin'' built between 1666 and 1671. It served as a stopover halfway between Toulouse and Sète. Cybelle island in the middle of the basin was used to protect the barges from the wind. 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. The port of Trèbes is a major port which has numerous moorings for boats. There are also the ports of Homps which was one of the most important on the canal and

which was a popular place for rest and recreation. Finally, just before its arrival at the Mediterranean Sea, the canal has two ports: the port of

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

and its royal canal giving access to the sea. Newer ports were built such as

Ramonville-Saint-Agne Ramonville-Saint-Agne (; Lengadocian: ), commonly known as Ramonville, is a commune in the suburbs of Toulouse, located in the French department of Haute-Garonne, administrative region of Occitanie, France. Population The inhabitants of the co ...

, called Port-Sud, which has many residential barges and is set directly overlooking the harbour, and Port-Lauragais located near

on a service area of the

A61 autoroute The A61 autoroute is a French motorway forming part of the ''Autoroute de Deux Mers''. It is long. It connects Narbonne (and a junction on A9) and Toulouse, where it becomes the A62 towards Bordeaux. It also has junctions with the A64 towards ...

The aqueducts

Related article: Aqueducts on the Canal du Midi Several aqueductsAn aqueduct is a 'canal bridge' (''pont-canal'' in French) carrying a canal over a river or valley, or any depression in the terrain. The same word in English is used for any overhead structure carrying water, while the French equivalent ''aqueduc'' refers to a water conveyance structure or (as in the case of the Canal du Mid) a siphon or culvert under the canal. This chapter refers only to the actual aqueducts carrying the canal itself, and not the secondary hydraulic structures. were built along the route of the Canal du Midi. They allow the canal to cross rivers that could disrupt the water flow in the canal. In fact, the rivers flowing into the canal cause an overflow of water during flooding and fill the canal with silt. 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. The canal has the following aqueducts (in order from Agde to Toulouse): *

Orb aqueduct The Orb Aqueduct (french: Pont-canal de l'Orb, Pont-canal de Béziers ) is a bridge which carries the Canal du Midi over the Orb in the city of Béziers in Languedoc, France. The aqueduct is wide, tall and at is the longest on the Canal du M ...

(PK 208) which was inaugurated in 1857, eliminating the difficult crossing of the river Orb *

(PK 168) *

Répudre aqueduct The Répudre Aqueduct (french: pont-canal de Répudre) is the first aqueduct built on the Canal du Midi. Pierre-Paul Riquet designed it to cross the Répudre River. It was built by Emmanuel d'Estan. It was designed in 1675 and completed in 167 ...

(PK 159) was built between 1667 and 1676 to span the Répudre near the village of

Paraza Paraza (; oc, Parasan) is a commune in the Aude department in southern France. Population See also *Communes of the Aude department The following is a list of the 433 communes of the Aude department of France. The communes cooperate i ...

. The Répudre is a small tributary of the

in which the flow is too variable especially in winter (bridge length: ). It was also the first aqueduct built by Pierre-Paul Riquet * Orbiel aqueduct at Trèbes (PK 117) *

Fresquel aqueduct The Fresquel Aqueduct (french: Pont-canal du Fresquel) is one of several aqueducts on the Canal du Midi. Until its building, the canal crossed the River Fresquel on the level. Built in 1802–1810, the structure is near Carcassonne. It was buil ...

(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 The Herbettes Aqueduct (french: Pont-Canal des Herbettes) is one of several aqueducts on the Canal du Midi. In Toulouse France, it carries the canal over a four-lane highway in a metal trough. The trough has been colorfully painted underneath. ...

, (PK 8), a new aqueduct at Toulouse completed in 1983, long, to cross a four-lane motorway.

Other structures

Pierre-Paul Riquet and the engineers who followed him over three centuries built many other structures on the Canal du Midi, of which the most important are listed here: Tunnel du Malpas barque

*the

long southeast of the Oppidum d'Ensérune which passes through a hill above sea level and was a technical challenge for the time Aqueduct Agent-Double from the towpath (Nancy)

Aqueduct Agent-Double from the towpath (Nancy)

*the Argent-Double spillway located in

La Redorte La Redorte (; oc, La Redòrta) is a commune in the Aude department in southern France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and terr ...

near the

Argent-Double Aqueduct The Argent-Double Aqueduct (french: Pont-canal de l'Argent-Double) is one of several aqueducts on the Canal du Midi. The Argent-Double stream is culverted under the canal at La Redorte. Gallery File:Aqueduct Argent-Double at water level (Nancy ...

: 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 Pente Eau Fonséranes

*the

Fonserannes water slope The Fonseranes Water Slope (french: Pente d'eau Fonséranes) is a disused inclined plane on the Canal du Midi parallel to the Fonseranes Lock. It has a rise of and a slope of 5°. This technique for a water slope was described by the French en ...

, which bypasses the 6-lock staircase at Fonserannes, was built at the time when the canal was to be upgraded to

to save time and allow larger vessels to work on. It has a unique machinery whose maintenance is expensive, but for several years, VNF has attempted to rehabilitate it to reduce waiting times at the Fonséranes locks L'Ouvrage du Libron - 4 - MJSepp

*the

Ouvrages du Libron Ouvrages du Libron ( en, Works of Libron) is a structure like no other on the Canal du Midi. It allows the Libron River, near Agde in south-west France, to traverse the Canal du Midi. At the point of intersection, the Libron is more or less at t ...

(the works of Libron), a unique achievement of its kind which allows the canal to cross the course of the Libron near

*the watermills of the Canal du Midi are located in derivation of the number of locks (e.g. Naurouze, Gay, Trèbes, Matabiau, Minimes, Castelnaudary, Castanet, Beziers, etc.) and used the water height differences to power Quern-stones to grind grain from the commissioning of the canal. Thereafter, they become real Gristmills during the 18th century.

Flora and fauna

The canal is a long ribbon of water stretching through the landscape and attracts many animal species. 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.

Mollusc Mollusca is the second-largest phylum of invertebrate animals after the Arthropoda, the members of which are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 85,000 extant species of molluscs are recognized. The number of fossil species is esti ...

s such as anadontes, a kind of freshwater mussel, and corbicules, a kind of freshwater clam, occur in the canal.

Invasive Invasive may refer to: *Invasive (medical) procedure *Invasive species *Invasive observation, especially in reference to surveillance *Invasively progressive spread of disease from one organ in the body to another, especially in reference to cancer ...

Coypu (River rat or nutria) and

Muskrat The muskrat (''Ondatra zibethicus'') is a medium-sized semiaquatic rodent native to North America and an introduced species in parts of Europe, Asia, and South America. The muskrat is found in wetlands over a wide range of climates and habitat ...

s introduced from the Americas burrow into the banks, which they damage. Finally, many animals and birds come to drink water from the canal. The canal is also a very vegetated place. In the beginning, Pierre-Paul Riquet planted trees to stabilize the banks of the canal especially where it overlooked the surrounding lands. The willow was widely used for its rapid growth. The engineer also planted irises on the side of the canal to reduce subsidence of its banks. In the 18th century, the trees planted along the canal become a source of income. So

mulberries ''Morus'', a genus of flowering plants in the family Moraceae, consists of diverse species of deciduous trees commonly known as mulberries, growing wild and under cultivation in many temperate world regions. Generally, the genus has 64 identif ...

were planted for rearing

silkworm The domestic silk moth (''Bombyx mori''), is an insect from the moth family Bombycidae. It is the closest relative of ''Bombyx mandarina'', the wild silk moth. The silkworm is the larva or caterpillar of a silk moth. It is an economically imp ...

s. Then, with the end of the silk culture in 1772, the mulberry trees were replaced by the poplar from Italy which was the most productive wood. Structures and lock-keepers' houses were decorated with fruit trees. At the Revolution plantations around the canal had approximately 60,000 trees when there were only 45,000 at the beginning. It was under the

First Empire First Empire may refer to: *First British Empire, sometimes used to describe the British Empire between 1583 and 1783 *First Bulgarian Empire (680–1018) *First French Empire (1804–1814/1815) * First German Empire or "First Reich", sometimes use ...

that plane trees began to be planted to replace the cut trees, which are today the dominant variety along the canal. However, for several years, plane trees have been infected with canker stain, a disease caused by a microscopic fungus called '' Ceratocystis platani''. The first outbreaks were detected in 2006 with the number of infected plane trees reaching 83 in 2008 and 153 in 2009. Selective tree-felling campaigns have been conducted to try to stop the spread but with no effect. In addition, there is no effective treatment against the disease. In 2011, 211 places and 1,338 diseased trees have been identified. In 15 to 20 years all 42,000 plane trees of the Canal du Midi will have to be felled and replaced mainly by other species (

ash Ash or ashes are the solid remnants of fires. Specifically, ''ash'' refers to all non-aqueous, non- gaseous residues that remain after something burns. In analytical chemistry, to analyse the mineral and metal content of chemical samples, ash ...

, lime), after initial experiments with a variety of plane-tree resisting the parasite.

The Canal du Midi as a model

The Canal du Midi was one of the great achievements of the late 17th century.

Riquet Riquet is a given name. Notable people with the name include: *Dominique Riquet (born 1946), French surgeon and politician of the Radical Party and MEP *François-Joseph-Philippe de Riquet (1771–1843), comte de Caraman was the 16th Prince de Chi ...

understood the hydraulic system of the Montagne Noire and had controlled it to serve the Canal du Midi. King Louis XIV, who was the sponsor, also left it as a mark of his commitment to grandeur. The canal was also magnified by the '' Encyclopedia or Reasoned Dictionary of Science, Arts, and Crafts'' by

Diderot Denis Diderot (; ; 5 October 171331 July 1784) was a French philosopher, art critic, and writer, best known for serving as co-founder, chief editor, and contributor to the ''Encyclopédie'' along with Jean le Rond d'Alembert. He was a prominen ...

and D'Alembert in 1765 who highlighted its value and greatness. They compare it to Roman constructions. Another encyclopedia writer, Joseph Jerome Lefrancois Lalande lauded the architectural and hydraulic achievement in his work ''The navigation canals and especially the Canal de Languedoc'' in 1778. Similarly, Bernard Forest de Bélidor congratulated the designer in ''Hydraulic Architecture''. The canal became an example in Europe as throughout the Age of Enlightenment it was the only canal of this size in Europe. Finally the American Thomas Jefferson, politician, architect, and future president of the United States, came to study the Canal du Midi in 1787. As the United States Ambassador to France he envisaged the construction of a similar work to link the Potomac River to Lake Erie.

People linked to the canal

, designer of the Canal du Midi. He obtained from the king the ownership and operation of the Canal du Midi for life for himself and his descendants. He died in October 1680 shortly before its completion. *

, Louis XIV's

Controller-General of Finances The Controller-General or Comptroller-General of Finances (french: Contrôleur général des finances) was the name of the minister in charge of finances in France from 1661 to 1791. It replaced the former position of Superintendent of Finances (''S ...

who was commissioned by the king to assess the cost and feasibility of the project. * Sebastien Le Prestre de Vauban, the royal architect and engineer who made many improvements to the canal between 1685 and 1686 *

, a close associate and deputy of Pierre-Paul Riquet who continued the work after the Riquet's death. *

an engineer who controlled and oversaw the works and advised Riquet.

Notes

Comments

Citations

References

* Michel Adgé, ''The Canal du Midi - Vol. 2: three centuries of inland water shipping and travels'', coll. "Canal du Midi", Ed. Jean-Denis Bergasse, 1984, * Arnaud d'Antin de Vaillac, ''Understanding the Canal du Midi'', Éditions France Empire, 1997, * * Bernard Blancotte, ''The canal du midi, work of a titan'', Éditions Lacour * Michel Cotte, ''The Canal du Midi, marvel of Europe'', Éditions Belin, 2003, * René Gast, ''The Canal du Midi and the navigable waterways from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean'', éditions Ouest-France, 2000, * Corinne Labat, Robert Fuggetta, Guy Jungblut, Marvin Holdt, and Gilles Bernard, ''The Canal du Midi from the 17th to the 21st century'', Éditions Empreinte, 2006, *

External links

English:
Canal du Midi
an
La Nouvelle branch
with maps and details of places, ports and moorings, by the author of ''Inland Waterways of France'', Imray
Navigation details for 80 French rivers and canals
(French waterways website section)
Aude Pays Cathare History and Heritage websiteExplore the Canal du Midi in the UNESCO collection on Google Arts and Culture
French:
Old Maps drawn by François Garipuy

Association of the ''Canal du midi en Languedoc''

History of the Canal du Midi
a personal website in French
Canal-du-Midi.org

Inter-regional Directorate VNF (South-West)

Inter-communal Tourism for the canal du Midi website

Actions taken by VNF to save the heritage of trees of the canal

Canal du Midi

Carcassonne

Intermunicipal tourist office of the Canal du Midi
{{Authority control Midi Landmarks in France World Heritage Sites in France Tourist attractions in Toulouse Canals opened in 1681 1681 establishments in France Historic Civil Engineering Landmarks

Introduction

Location and profile of the canal

Legal status

History

Abandoned projects

Study of the project

Highlights

Inaccuracies by Pierre-Paul Riquet

Study techniques

Political and economic context

The edict of Louis XIV and the financing of the project

Construction of the canal

Work organization and social conditions

Trades and work measures implemented

Inauguration

Supplementary works

Maintenance

Operational history of the canal

The boats

Influence on Hungary

Rail competition

The end of merchant traffic

The canal in the 21st century

A canal for tourism and recreation

A canal for water

The Canal as heritage

The structures

Water supply for the canal

The locks

The ports

The aqueducts

Other structures

Flora and fauna

The Canal du Midi as a model

People linked to the canal

See also

Notes

Comments

Citations

References

Further reading

External links