43°20′24″N3°32′23″E / 43.34003°N 3.53978°E / 43.34003; 3.53978 Les Onglous Lighthouse
Branch of
Canal des Deux Mers
Connects to
Garonne Lateral Canal, La Nouvelle branch, Canal de Brienne, Hérault, and Étang de Thau
Summit:
Seuil de Naurouze
UNESCO World Heritage Site
Criteria
Cultural: i, ii, iv, vi
Reference
770
Inscription
1996 (20th Session)
The Canal du Midi (French pronunciation:[kanaldymidi]; Occitan: Canal del Miègjorn[ka'naldelmjɛdˈd͡ʒuɾ]) is a 240 km (150 mi) 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 considered one of the greatest construction works of the 17th century.[2]
The canal connects the Garonne to the Étang de Thau on the Mediterranean and, along with the 193 km (120 mi) long Canal de Garonne, forms the Canal des Deux Mers, 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 built later, and finally the Gironde estuary after Bordeaux.
Jean-Baptiste Colbert 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, 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 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 (Black Mountains) to the Seuil de Naurouze, 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.[3][4]
^"Canal du Midi | Detailed Navigation Guide and Maps". French Waterways. Retrieved 2019-11-03.
^Ultimately the project cost from 17 to 18 million livres which at the time made it the second largest construction in the country after Versailles.
^"Canal du Midi". UNESCO World Heritage Centre. United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization. Retrieved 23 October 2021.
^"Canal du Midi Designated as International Historic Civil Engineering Landmark". American Academy of Water Resources Engineers. 30 August 2016. Retrieved 1 May 2021.
The CanalduMidi (French pronunciation: [kanal dy midi]; Occitan: Canal del Miègjorn [ka'nal del mjɛdˈd͡ʒuɾ]) is a 240 km (150 mi) long canal in Southern...
interchangeably with the CanalduMidi. In others, it describes the path from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean of which the CanalduMidi was the first artificial...
on the CanalduMidi along its 240-kilometre (150 mi) course from the Bassin du Thau on the Mediterranean coast to the junction with the Canal lateral...
Aqueducts on the CanalduMidi allow the canal to intersect and cross over natural streams. There are two exceptions, the first is the Herbettes Aqueduct...
with Andorra and Spain. The city is traversed by the Canal de Brienne, the CanalduMidi, the Canal de Garonne and the rivers Garonne, Touch and Hers-Mort...
include the Roman-era Pont du Gard and the Arena of Nîmes; the Verdon Gorge, in Alpes-de-Haute-Provence; the CanalduMidi, linking Toulouse by to the...
37.3-kilometre (23.2 mi) branch of the CanalduMidi in Aude, southern France which runs from the CanalduMidi through Narbonne and on to the Mediterranean...
department in Southern France. It is the Mediterranean port of the CanalduMidi. Agde is located on the Hérault river, 4 kilometres (2 miles) from the...
Examples include canals that connect valleys over a higher body of land, like CanalduMidi, Canal de Briare and the Panama Canal. A canal can be constructed...
the CanalduMidi that links the Bay of Biscay with the Mediterranean Sea the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes. Montpellier as seen from the Porte du Peyrou...
The Compagnie des chemins de fer duMidi (abbr. CF duMidi), also known in English as the Midi or Southern Railway, was an early French railway company...
Great Canal Journeys is a British television series in which a pair of presenters take canal barge and narrowboat trips in the United Kingdom, Europe,...
Belgium and France". UNESCO. "Bordeaux, Port de la Lune". UNESCO. "CanalduMidi". UNESCO. "Cathédrale d'Amiens". UNESCO. "Cathédrale de Bourges". UNESCO...
and the Strépy-Thieu boat lift. The eight locks of Fonserannes on the CanalduMidi in Southern France attract so many gongoozlers that they have become...
The Orb Aqueduct (French: Pont-canal de l'Orb, Pont-canal de Béziers) is a bridge which carries the CanalduMidi over the Orb in the city of Béziers in...
today carries road, motorway (A61), rail and canal links. Castelnaudary is the main port of the CanalduMidi to which it owed a period of prosperity in...
40417°E / 43.30083; 3.40417 Ouvrages du Libron (English: Works of Libron) is a structure like no other on the CanalduMidi. It allows the Libron River, near...
Industrial Revolution and until today, include the construction of the CanalduMidi, the patronage of artists, and the founding of the French Academy of...
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