Listed as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1996, the Canal du Midi continues to arouse admiration even today. 242 km long and connecting Toulouse to the Mediterranean, it was dug with shovels and pickaxes by thousands of workers for 14 years from 1667 to 1681.
How about taking the time to make a stopover in Lauragais to contemplate this masterpiece of civil engineering, which emerged from the earth more than 300 years ago?

THE PIERRE-PAUL RIQUET PROJECT

In 1667, Pierre Paul Riquet takes up this project which has been "in the boxes" since Antiquity. Indeed, all the sovereigns who have succeeded one another have always dreamed of being able to link the Atlantic to the Mediterranean while avoiding the Strait of Gibraltar, considered insecure and costing very dear.

But the question that kept coming back was: where to find the water needed to fill such a long canal?

Pierre Paul Riquet visite théatralisée

Pierre Paul Riquet, collector of the salt tax (the gabelle) in Languedoc manages to solve this thorny problem. He knows the region well, because he constantly surveys it for his business. Living in Revel, he often crosses the Montagne Noire on horseback: he realizes that this place is crossed by many small streams. This is how, little by little, the idea germinated in his mind that would lead to the creation of the Canal du Midi. Pierre Paul Riquet is not an engineer, but throughout his project he is helped by a surveyor and specialist in hydraulics, Francois Andreossy.

THE WATER SHARING POINT IN NAUROUZE

Riquet's idea is as follows: capture all the watercourses that cross the Montagne Noire and channel them into a large reservoir basin dug for this purpose.

Then, run all the water stored in this tank into a ditch until the point of water sharing.

Obviously, Riquet has crucial information that would make his project possible: the fact that the crest line crossing Europe and which determined the watersheds of the rivers was located precisely at Naurouze, in the Lauragais, at 189m altitude.

This reservoir basin was dug at Saint Ferreol, near Revel. Work began in 1667. It was for the time the biggest dam in the world known with a retention of 4 m000 of water! 

From there the water was routed via the artificial channel of the Plain  until Naurouze threshold. Finally, it was quite natural that it flowed on the one hand towards the Mediterranean Sea and on the other hand towards Toulouse. That's what we call " the watershed point »: You can contemplate this place, which has become emblematic, even today.

A TITANICAL SITE: A TRIBUTE TO THE WORKERS!

The Canal du Midi is dug in sections but we must keep in mind the idea that work is starting simultaneously everywhere.

The first stones of the dam are laid at Saint-Ferreol in 1667.

At the same time, several projects are being carried out simultaneously:

  • Digging of the port of l'Embouchure in Toulouse
  • 34km of the Plaine channel 
  • Digging of the Toulouse / Trèbes part (towards Carcassonne) 

A first filling of the canal is carried out in 1671.

Then, we must continue! During the second phase of the work, it involves digging the part leading from Trèbes to theThau pond, near Sète, where a port will be built.

All this would not have been possible without a large and loyal workforce. In order to be able to move the project forward quickly, Riquet implements very advantageous working conditions: paid unemployment on rainy days, compensation for sickness, Sundays and even public holidays. The workers, who came mainly from the fields found their account there, even if one suspects that accidents were frequent, since everything was dug with a shovel and a pickax, even with an explosive! As for the women, they cleared the land on the edges.

At the peak of the construction site, it took 12000 workers mobilized to dig the canal.

Did you know ?

Riquet did not have the chance to see his canal completed: he died 3 months before its official inauguration! Yet it is he who is the financial guarantor of his project to the point of getting into debt to advance the money necessary for the construction. He dies riddled with debt. His children and grandchildren exploited the management of the Canal du Midi in the following century and began to make profits from the middle of the XNUMXth century. During the French Revolution, the heirs of Riquet were robbed of their possession which would become national property.

VAUBAN THE PROVIDENTIAL MAN

The Canal du Midi was inaugurated with great pomp in 1681 in the presence of the Archbishop of Narbonne. Nevertheless, very quickly, it becomes silted up because of the rivers which cross it and in a few months, navigation is compromised. 

Consolidation work will be carried out from 1686 to 1694 by Vauban, architect of the fortifications of the Kingdom. He built many complementary engineering structures such as aqueducts (in order to make the rivers pass under the canal). He enlarged the Saint-Férréol reservoir to store even more water and drilled the Cammazes tunnel also called " Vauban vault On the other hand, the Toulouse-Bordeaux part remains only at the draft stage. It will not be dug until the middle of the XNUMXth century. Today it is known as " Lateral canal at the Garonne ».

Canal du Midi bateaux navigation plaisance

THE CANAL DU MIDI, A LINK BETWEEN PAST AND PRESENT

This waterway has long been used to transport passengers and goods.

The port of Agals Gardouch became a favorite place for exchanges. Thanks to this outlet, wheat could be exported massively to Toulouse or to Languedoc, which generated a second golden age in Lauragais (after that of pastel in the XNUMXth century). In the XNUMXth century, magnificent mansions and superb castles sprang up, sponsored by landowners who had made their fortune in the export of cereals.

The train unfortunately came to tarnish this beautiful story. However, freight transport continued until the 1980s.

Today, only the yachting is allowed. It takes 7 days by boat to travel from Toulouse to Sète. It is however possible to rent electric boats or boats without a license to enjoy a few hours or a few days of this construction gem. The more athletic can walk the towpaths walk ou by bike over a few kilometers or more to meditate on the creative genius of Pierre-Paul Riquet.

Practical guide to the Canal du Midi

Prepare your discovery of the Canal du Midi. By reading the guide, you will discover all the towns that border the Canal du Midi from Toulouse to Sète, and their accommodation, restaurants and places to discover.

PRACTICAL INFORMATION

Navigate

Navigation is free from mid-March to October. Outside this period, it is done on request from waterways of France. However, it is completely interrupted during periods of unemployment in the canal.

La navigation speed is limited to 8km / hour. So you have to take your time on board the boat!

By bike

Cyclists should ask for their authorization near the Voies Navigables de France to be able to travel on the towpath between Naurouze and Sète.

Authorizations are issued on an individual and temporary basis.
You must provide your surname and first name, the date of your visit and your route along the Canal du Midi.

You can make your request

  • By email, by writing to the address us.adve.dt-sud-ouest@vnf.fr
  • By mail, by sending your online form completed at:
    Waterways of France
    ADVE/Users' office
    2 port Saint-Etienne – BP 7204 – 31073 TOULOUSE CEDEX 7

Official site

Visit the official Canal du Midi website to prepare for your stay.