Briare Canal

Course outline of the channel

The Canal de Briare is a ship canal in the French regions Centre and Burgundy. He, together with the channels Canal du Loing Canal in the Loire and the Canal du Centre, a channel chain (Route Bourbonnais ), which allows the barges and pleasure boats a transition from the Seine to the Saône and further over the Rhone to the Mediterranean.

Course

The canal begins in the city port of Briare, where he joined earlier in the Loire. Three kilometers to the branches of the Canal in the Loire ( dt: Loire Lateral Canal ), who crossed with the help of a canal bridge in the Loire Valley. Many ships therefore no longer go down to the city port of Briare, but benefit the trading port, situated on the Loire Lateral Canal just before the canal bridge.

The Canal de Briare first runs in a northeasterly direction, but swings to the northwest later and reaches just north of Montargis after a length of 57 kilometers, the place the bow, the Canal du Loing. Here ends also the Canal d' Orléans, who is currently locked for the shipping. At its restoration but is already working.

Coordinates

• Source of the canal: 47 ° 38 ' 20 " N, 2 ° 43' 46" O47.6388888888892.7294444444444Koordinaten: 47 ° 38 ' 20 " N, 2 ° 43' 46" E
• Endpoint of the channel: 48 ° 1 ' 39 " N, 2 ° 43' 20" O48.02752.7222222222222

By Crossed departments

In the Centre region:

• Loiret

In the Burgundy region:

• Yonne

Places on the canal

• Briare
• Ouzouer -sur Trézée
• Rogny -les- Sept- Écluses
• Châtillon- Coligny
• Montargis

Technical Infrastructure

The channel is the world's oldest watershed channel and has a total of 36 locks. With 12 of them, the rise over 40 meters from the Loire valley is made by the other 24 of the descent over approximately 80 meters towards the Seine. He first follows the river Trézée and reached its summit level in height of 165 meters above the sea, where some reservoirs have been created for its water supply.

The reservoirs are, inter alia, supplied by a pumping station at Briare on the bach similar gully trench d' Alimentation du Canal de Briare with water. West of Ouzouer -sur- Trézée doing this water is carried in a doppelrohrigen culvert, which in turn crosses the channel on a lattice bridge. In addition, the trench de St- Privée into hillside water about 16 km away to the lakes. More trenches connecting the reservoirs south of Bléneau.

After his descent, the channel reached at Rogny -les- Sept- Écluses the River Loing, which provides for further water doping. The locks are designed for ships with the standard size Freycinet.

History

The building was designed in the 16th century and started 1604. The arrangement was for King Henry IV, his minister Sully let them run. It was preceded by famine in Paris, which at that time had about 500,000 inhabitants. Through the sewer the supply of the city should be improved. After the death of the king in 1610 rested the construction to 1638, so that the channel could not be opened before 1642 by Cardinal Richelieu. The Canal de Briare was the model for the soon after built the Canal du Midi.

Attractions

• Flight of locks Rogny

This seven-, world's oldest lock staircase was - as the channel - built in the years 1604-1610 and 1638-1642, but had been already designed in 1579. She was a model for the 1681 put into operation, originally eight- Nine Locks. Since 1882 the flight of locks Rogny is dry, after the channel was moved over a distance of about six kilometers to the west. There, since there are five separate, for longer ships ( Freycinet class) matching locks. The flight of locks Rogny counts since 1983 as a monument Historique about French monuments.

• Lock staircase at Dammarie -sur -Loing

The five-step lock staircase is located north of Dammarie -sur -Loing alongside the Canal Lock No. 21, the Ecluse du Moulin Brûlé. It was built at the same time to the Rogny in the course of the channel. When it was 1888, the channel laid deeper with larger locks on the mountain side and went into use, also fell into this lock staircase.

• Aqueduc de la Trézée

About 1 km to the west of Ouzouer -sur- Trézée, carries the aqueduc de la Trézée than steel lattice construction of 170 m length of the Doppelrohrdüker the trench d' Alimentation du Canal de Briare on the Trézée.