page_title: Canal du Midi
section_title: Other structures
hierarchical_section_title: Canal du Midi / The structures / Other structures
caption_attribution_description: English: Argent-Double aqueduct on the Canal du Midi looking westwards
context_page_description: The Canal du Midi is a 240 km long canal in Southern France. Originally named the Canal royal en Languedoc and renamed by French revolutionaries to Canal du Midi in 1789, the canal was at the time considered one of the greatest construction works of the 17th century.
  The canal connects the Garonne to the Étang de Thau on the Mediterranean and along with the 193 km long Canal de Garonne forms the Canal des Deux Mers, joining the Atlantic to the Mediterranean. The canal runs from the city of Toulouse down to the Étang de Thau near 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.
context_section_description: Pierre-Paul Riquet and the engineers who followed him over three centuries built many other structures on the Canal du Midi, of which the most important are listed here:
  the Malpas Tunnel 165m long southeast of the Oppidum d'Ensérune which passes through a hill 50m above sea level and was a technical challenge for the time
  the Argent-Double spillway located in La Redorte near the Argent-Double Aqueduct: this work incorporates eleven successive stone arches contemporary to Vauban, its designer; it was built by Antoine de Niquet and allows for the overflow water from the canal to be discharged into the stream
  the Fonserannes water slope, which bypasses the 6-lock staircase at Fonserannes, was built at the time when the canal was to be upgraded to Freycinet gauge to save time and allow larger vessels to work on. It has a unique machinery whose maintenance is expensive, but for several years, VNF has attempted to rehabilitate it to reduce waiting times at the Fonséranes locks
  the Ouvrages du Libron (the works of Libron), a unique achievement of its kind which allows the canal to cross the course of the Libron near Agde
  the watermills of the Canal du Midi are located in derivation of the number of locks (e.g. Naurouze, Gay, Trèbes, Matabiau, Minimes, Castelnaudary, Castanet, Beziers, etc.) and used the water height differences to power Quern-stones to grind grain from the commissioning of the canal. Thereafter, they become real Gristmills during the 18th century.
caption: The Argent-Double spillway and its 11 successive arches.
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