Rogny-les-Sept-Écluses () is a commune in the

Yonne Yonne (, in Burgundian: ''Ghienne'') is a department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in France. It is named after the river Yonne, which flows through it, in the country's north-central part. One of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté's eight con ...

department in

Bourgogne-Franche-Comté Bourgogne-Franche-Comté (; , sometimes abbreviated BFC; Arpitan: ''Borgogne-Franche-Comtât'') is a region in eastern France created by the 2014 territorial reform of French regions, from a merger of Burgundy and Franche-Comté. The new region ...

in north-central

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. The name of the commune comes from its impressive seven locks on

Briare Canal The Briare Canal (, ) 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. It is long and is pa ...

Geography

The commune is located some west of

Auxerre Auxerre ( , , Burgundian language (Oïl), Burgundian: ''Auchoirre'') is the capital (Prefectures in France, prefecture) of the Yonne Departments of France, department and the fourth-largest city in the Burgundy historical region southeast of Par ...

and is crossed by the

Loing The Loing () is a long river in central France, a left tributary of the Seine. Its source is in Sainte-Colombe-sur-Loing, in the southwest of the departments of France, department of Yonne, and it flows into the Seine in Saint-Mammès, near Mo ...

and the

. It is situated at 20 km north of

Gien Gien () is a Communes of France, commune in the Loiret Departments of France, department in north-central France. Gien is on the river Loire, from Orléans. Gien station has rail connections to Montargis, Nevers and Paris. The town was bought ...

and 140 km south of

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

. The commune is in the natural area of Puisaye,

History

Rogny-les-sept-écluses was simply known as Rogny before 1978, when the name was changed to mirror its famous monument. Human settlement in the area dates back to

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

times. Medals and coins bearing the image of the

Emperor Constantine Constantine I (27 February 27222 May 337), also known as Constantine the Great, was a Roman emperor from AD 306 to 337 and the first Roman emperor to convert to Christianity. He played a pivotal role in elevating the status of Christ ...

(306-337) and the

Gaulish Gaulish is an extinct Celtic languages, Celtic language spoken in parts of Continental Europe before and during the period of the Roman Empire. In the narrow sense, Gaulish was the language of the Celts of Gaul (now France, Luxembourg, Belgium, ...

tyran Tetricus (268) were found along an ancient

Roman road Roman roads ( ; singular: ; meaning "Roman way") were physical infrastructure vital to the maintenance and development of the Roman state, built from about 300 BC through the expansion and consolidation of the Roman Republic and the Roman Em ...

. In the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

, the lower part of the village was on wetlands, so most of the villagers lived around the church on the higher part of the village. Written traces from the 11th century indicate that the village now known as Rogny belonged to the ''Roignacum'' parish, from where the name could come.

Saint-Loup Church

The church is still on the hill where the historical commune stood and now dominate the village. It was dated 12th century, but the structure was modified many times. The church has kept his Romanesque

porch A porch (; , ) is a room or gallery located in front of an entrance to a building. A porch is placed in front of the façade of a building it commands, and forms a low front. Alternatively, it may be a vestibule (architecture), vestibule (a s ...

. It is a listed monument. The most remarkable possession of the church is a painting called ''Les Pèlerins d'Emmaüs'' from 1757 and designated as historical monument in 1908. It was painted by Adrien Le Beau after '' Pilgrims at Emmaus'' by

Titian Tiziano Vecellio (; 27 August 1576), Latinized as Titianus, hence known in English as Titian ( ), was an Italian Renaissance painter, the most important artist of Renaissance Venetian painting. He was born in Pieve di Cadore, near Belluno. Ti ...

. The bell has a diameter of 1.20 m and is from 1699. It has been dubbed ''Isabelle''.

The seven locks and Briare Canal

The Briare Canal and its main work, the seven locks (or ''sept écluses'' in French), were part of the enormous work of Henry IV and Sully to join the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern Eur ...

to the

English Channel The English Channel, also known as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates Southern England from northern France. It links to the southern part of the North Sea by the Strait of Dover at its northeastern end. It is the busi ...

by a network of

canal 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 ...

s and rivers. The locks were built to join the

Loire The Loire ( , , ; ; ; ; ) is the longest river in France and the 171st longest in the world. With a length of , it drains , more than a fifth of France's land, while its average discharge is only half that of the Rhône. It rises in the so ...

to the

Seine The Seine ( , ) is a river in northern France. Its drainage basin is in the Paris Basin (a geological relative lowland) covering most of northern France. It rises at Source-Seine, northwest of Dijon in northeastern France in the Langres plat ...

water system. It was

Hugues Cosnier Hugues Cosnier () was a French engineer who conceived of the Briare Canal who was born in Tours, 1573, and died in 1629, in Paris. He proposed to Henri IV the idea of building a canal from the Loire River to the River Seine. It would go from B ...

's idea to build six locks (a seventh one was built later) to cross the Vallée du Loing (côte Rogny, hence the name Rogny-les-sept-écluses). Cosny had chosen Rogny for its work because of the presence of many ponds, and the water was to be used to operate the locks. Construction for both the locks and the Briare Canal started in 1604, and required next to 12,000 workers, that needed to be house in the town. To these workers, some 6000 soldiers came to monitor the construction site when the construction was halted during the

Thirty Years War The Thirty Years' War, fought primarily in Central Europe between 1618 and 1648, was one of the most destructive conflicts in European history. An estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died from battle, famine, or disease, whil ...

. Material theft was a real problem at the time. The locks and the canal adjacent were finally open for navigation in 1642, under the name "Canal de Loyre en Seyne", before taking the name Briare Canal in 1666. The lock were the first of their kind to be built in France. The life of the villagers was thus linked to navigation in the area, and they were proud to lead the boats on the

towpath A towpath is a road or trail on the bank of a river, canal, or other inland waterway. The purpose of a towpath is to allow a land vehicle, Working animal, beasts of burden, or a team of human pullers to tow a boat, often a barge. This mod ...

. Work was done in 1822 to modernize the locks, but they were closed in 1887, after new ones were built. Each lock is 27 meters long, for a total of 238m, and 4.32 meters wide. They were designated national historical monument in 1983.

Cultural event

Every year since 1967 at the end of July, the commune has held a

pyrotechnics Pyrotechnics is the science and craft of creating fireworks, but also includes safety matches, oxygen candles, Pyrotechnic fastener, explosive bolts (and other fasteners), parts of automotive airbags, as well as gas-pressure blasting in mining, q ...

show next to the locks. This is also the occasion for musical and comedy performances, before the main event of the fireworks.

Geography

History

Saint-Loup Church

The seven locks and Briare Canal

Cultural event

See also

References

External links