Canal du Midi

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**Canal du Midi**^a
**UNESCO World Heritage Site**

State Party	France
Type	Cultural
Criteria	i, ii, iv, vi
Identification	#770
Region^b	Europe and North America
Inscription History
Formal Inscription:	1996 20th Session
a Name as officially inscribed on the WH List b As classified officially by UNESCO

The Canal du Midi or Canal des Deux Mers (Occitan: Canal de las Doas Mars / Canal del Miègjorn) is a 240 km long canal in the south (le Midi) of France. The canal connects the Garonne River to the Étang de Thau on the Mediterranean. The canal runs from the city of Toulouse down to the Mediterranean port of Sète (which was founded to serve as the eastern terminus of the Canal.)

1 History
2 Characteristics of the Canal
3 See also
4 External links

[edit] History

The Canal du Midi basin at the town of Castelnaudary

The original purpose of the Canal du Midi was to be a shortcut between the Atlantic and the Mediterranean, avoiding the long sea voyage around hostile Spain, Barbary pirates, and a trip that in the 17th century required a full month of sailing.

The Canal du Midi was opened officially as the Canal Royal de Languedoc on May 15, 1681. It was built under the supervision of Pierre-Paul Riquet, a rich tax-farmer. He bankrupted himself in the personal undertaking and died destitute in 1680, just months before the Canal was opened to navigation. Riquet was not alone in the undertaking: his 12,000 workers toiled for fifteen years to create the Canal.

[edit] Characteristics of the Canal

The Canal du Midi, south of Toulouse, with a typical small boat.

The Canal du Midi, approaching the round lock at Agde. Note the tow path along the Canal.

World's first canal tunnel, at Malpas

Seven connected locks at Fonséranes, Béziers

The Canal has 103 locks which serve to climb and descend a total of 190 meters. The Canal has 328 structures, including not only the locks but also bridges, dams and a tunnel.

At the town of Béziers the Canal crosses over the river Orb. To accomplish this feat, a pont-canal (aqueduct) was built.

The design of the Canal included the first canal passage ever built through a tunnel (the Malpas tunnel). The Canal du Midi passes through a passage 173 meters long under a hill at Enserune.

The Canal also involved building the first artificial reservoir for feeding a canal waterway — a massive dam, 700 meters long, 30 meters above the riverbed and 120 meters thick at its base, which was built by the labor of hundreds of local women carrying soil in baskets.

The construction of the Canal du Midi was considered by people in the 17th century as the biggest project of the day. Even today, it is seen as a marvelous engineering accomplishment.