page_title: Canal Saint-Denis
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Canal Saint-Denis / History
caption_attribution_description: Une barge franchit le Pont de Flandre vers l'écluse N°1 du Canal Saint-Denis.
context_page_description: The Canal Saint-Denis is a canal in Paris that is 6.6 kilometres in length. The canal connects the Canal de l'Ourcq, at a point north-northwest of the Bassin de la Villette in the 19th arrondissement, with the suburban municipalities of Saint-Denis and Aubervilliers in the department of Seine-Saint-Denis. There are seven locks along the canal's route, and, near Saint-Denis, the canal discharges into the Seine.
  In 1802 Napoléon Bonaparte issued a decree for the construction of the canal to both expedite shipping and reduce the number of ships and barges sailing up and down the Seine through the center of Paris. Contracts to build and operate the canals in the Île-de-France were granted to private banking firms. These contracts required the city of Paris to purchase land, and the merchant-bankers who won the contracts, Roman Vassal, Lafitte, André, and Cottier, were expected to construct the waterways. As compensation for their large outlays, the bankers were permitted to collect tolls on the canal for a term of ninety-nine years. The canal was completed in 1821.
  The canal is part of the Réseau des Canaux Parisiens, a public-works authority operated by the city.
context_section_description: Napoléon Bonaparte ordered the creation of a Parisian canal network on May 19, 1802.  Specifically, he decreed that the Seine be diverted from below the Bassin de l'Arsenal to the Bassin de la Villette.  The canal would continue through Saint-Denis to rejoin the Seine in order to avoid having a shipping canal pass through the center of Paris.  Additionally, the new canal would expedite navigation by avoiding the Seine's meandering turns.
  Private financiers were awarded the contracts to construct and manage the canals.  The city of Paris agreed to purchase the land and surrender the tolls for 99 years in order that the firms build the canals. (The cost of construction was estimated at 6 million francs.) Work began in 1805 under Édouard de Villiers du Terrage. In May 1821, the canal opened, having expended less than its allotted budget.  At its creation, the canal had twelve locks with an overall change in level of 28.34 metres (93.0 ft).
  Between 1890 and 1895, the canal was reconstructed and enlarged in order to permit the passage of wider-beamed barges, and the number of locks was reduced from twelve to eight.  The first lock was named Écluse du Pont de Flandre ("Flanders Bridge Lock"), and it alone covered 10 metres (33 ft) of lift, replacing four of the older locks.  In 2008, the canal was composed of seven locks.
  Since 1983, the canal has been open to pleasure craft.
caption: A barge under the Pont de Flandre in Paris
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