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Canal du Midi
Visite.org  
 
31000 Toulouse (Haute-Garonne)


The "Canal du Midi" was built under the reign of King Louis the XIVth and is the oldest European canal still in use. This waterway was imagined by the civil engineer Pierre-Paul Riquet and includes nearly 400 civil engineering structures such as overflow weirs, lock gates, aqueducts, bridges, spillways, and tunnels, etc., all of which are of exceptional interest in terms of heritage. And this importance has now been recognized at International level as UNESCO has decided to inscribe the "Canal du Midi" among the 469 sites already on the World Heritage List.
The canal covers 148 miles between "l'étang de Thau" near Sète and Toulouse, drawing its water from the lake of St-Ferréol; the latter being a retaining reservoir which is used as the canal's main feeding tank. Pierre-Paul Riquet built its retaining barrier, measuring 2,625 ft in length and 105 ft high, during the 17th century. It's the oldest construction of its type in France and no doubt also in Europe. Extended by the "Canal de Garonne", the "Canal du Midi" connects Bordeaux to Sète, thus forming a waterway link-up between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea.

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