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Origin and history

The Canal du Midi, originally called the "Royal Canal of Languedoc", is a major art work designed in the 17th century to connect the Atlantic Ocean with the Mediterranean Sea without bypassing the Iberian Peninsula. Its designer, Pierre-Paul Riquet, a collector of the gabelle, proposed in 1662 to Louis XIV a bold project: to capture the waters of the Black Mountain to feed the sharing bief at the threshold of Naurouze, culminating in the canal. After validation by Colbert and a commission of experts, the work began in 1667 and ended in 1681, despite the death of Riquet in 1680. The 241 km-long canal includes 63 locks, canal bridges, and a complex system of drains and reservoirs for its water supply.

The Canal du Midi is first and foremost an economic tool, allowing the transport of goods such as wheat, wine or salt, and desenclining Languedoc. Its exploitation was entrusted to the descendants of Riquet until the 19th century, before being nationalized in 1898. Over the centuries, it underwent improvements, notably by Vauban, which strengthened its hydraulic system between 1685 and 1694. Despite the competition of rail in the 19th century, the canal remained a vital axis until the 1980s, before converting into river tourism. Ranked a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1996, it is now managed by the French Waterways and attracts thousands of annual visitors.

The lake of the Jouarres pond, located near Azille (Aude), is one of the oldest canal bridges in the system, built between 1679 and 1680 by Riquet himself. This modest but emblematic work illustrates the technical challenges to deliver water and stabilize the channel flow. The Azille site, crossed by the canal, benefits from this historic infrastructure, which contributes to the local irrigation and heritage landscape of Occitanie. The canal, with its 42,000 plane trees (threatened by the coloured canker) and its art works, remains a symbol of French engineering in the Great Century.

The canal's operation is based on an innovative feeding system: two drains (from the mountain and the plain) bring water from the Black Mountain to the Saint-Ferréol reservoir and then to the Naurouze threshold. This mechanism, perfected by Vauban, allows to maintain a constant flow despite the seasons. Locks, often rounded to withstand pressure, and canal bridges such as that of the Jouarres pond, testify to the ingenuity of the builders. Today, the canal combines heritage, tourism and hydraulic management, while facing environmental challenges such as preserving its trees and regulating its flow.

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