Carcassonne - Pont Marengo - View West on Harbour in Canal du Midi

The Pont Marengo (Marengo bridge) crosses 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 Languedoc) and renamed by French revolutionaries to ''Canal du Midi'' in 1789, the canal is considere ...

and links

Carcassonne Carcassonne (, also , , ; ; la, Carcaso) is a French fortified city in the department of Aude, in the region of Occitanie. It is the prefecture of the department. Inhabited since the Neolithic, Carcassonne is located in the plain of the ...

to the local railway station. The busy

canal lock A lock is a device used for raising and lowering boats, ships and other watercraft between stretches of water of different levels on river and canal waterways. The distinguishing feature of a lock is a fixed chamber in which the water lev ...

at Port Marengo is a tourist attraction as the canal boats work their way along the canal. The bridge is named after the

Battle of Marengo The Battle of Marengo was fought on 14 June 1800 between French forces under the First Consul Napoleon Bonaparte and Austrian forces near the city of Alessandria, in Piedmont, Italy. Near the end of the day, the French overcame General Mic ...

at which Napoleon defeated the Austrians in 1800, and a plaque on the bridge dates the construction to that year (or year 8, as it is given in the French Republican calendar). A little way down from the bridge the railway line crosses the canal and here there is a small plaque and garden commemorating the maquisards who were executed here by the Nazis.

See also