Pierre-Paul Riquet

The German-language television series "Treasures of the World - Heritage of Humanity" pays tribute to special sites from all eras and continents in over 250 episodes with short film contributions, which, despite all their differences, have one thing in common: they have been declared World Heritage Sites by UNESCO. One of the episodes presents the CANAL DU MIDI. This is a connection - desired in the minds of many centuries, but also considered impossible from a structural point of view - between the southern coast of France on the Mediterranean and the vastness of the Atlantic Ocean."...even the Romans dreamed of a waterway between the Mediterranean and the Atlantic. Powerful people and doers from Charlemagne to Francis the First failed to realize this idea, even Leonardo da Vinci tinkered with it in vain. It was not built until the end of the 17th century. The Canal du Midi is a technical masterpiece by one man, one obsessed with the idea, by Pierre Paul Riquet. He was a royal tax official and amateur engineer. He found a solution for how a canal that has to overcome a height difference of 190 meters between the Mediterranean and Toulouse can be constantly supplied with water. A 240.129 km long, 2.25 to 2.50 m deep waterway was declared a cultural monument as a "bridge" between the Mediterranean and the Atlantic with 328 structures such as bridges - such as the canal bridge over the Orb -, locks - such as the 7 lock cascades of Fonserrannes -, tunnels, aqueducts and 49 canals over streams and rivers." The episode about the CANAL DU MIDI is available in the ARD media library at the following link: ardmediathek.de/video/schaetze-der-welt/gcanal-du-midi-frankreich-folge-224/swr/Y3JpZDovL3N3ci5kZS82OTg2NDg2