Seuil de Naurouze

43.35071°N 1.81862°E / 43.35071; 1.81862

Riquet Monument
43.35235°N 1.82699°E / 43.35235; 1.82699

The Seuil de Naurouze, or Col de Naurouze, is the highest point (190 m above sea level) of the Canal du Midi in southern France. It is the watershed point identified by Pierre-Paul Riquet when he designed and built the canal. Water falling on the western side of this point flows to the Atlantic Ocean and on the eastern side to the Mediterranean Sea. It is on the border of the department of Haute-Garonne and the department of the Aude.^{[1] [2]}

In 1827,^[3] the heirs of Riquet built the Riquet Obelisk. The obelisk has a dedication: "To Pierre-Paul Riquet, Baron Bonrepos, author of the Two Seas Canal in Languedoc". It is erected near the site of the former octagonal holding tank, called the Bassin de Naurouze created during the building of the Canal du Midi.

The flow of water from the Bassin de St. Ferréol joins the Canal at this point.

The locks closest to the Seuil de Naurouze are the Océan Lock on the Atlantic ocean side and the Mediterranee Lock on the Mediterranean sea side.

The Seuil has been known since Antiquity: Greek geographer Strabo called it the Gaulish isthmus, and the Roman road Via Aquitania, going from Narbonnes to Toulouse, went through the Seuil.

References

1. Rolt, L. T. C. (1973). From Sea to Sea. Ohio University Press. ISBN 9780713904710.
2. Mukerji, Chandra (2009). Impossible Engineering: Technology and Territoriality on the Canal du Midi. Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0-691-14032-2.
3. Kiessler, Bernd-Wilfried (2009). The Canal du Midi A Cruiser's Guide. Adlard Coles Nautical. pp. 115–116. ISBN 978-1-4081-1273-1.

Gallery

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  Spillway in Naurouze
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  Riquet Obelisk
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  Water joins the Canal from the Bassin de Naurouze
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  Riquet Obelisk
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  Rigole de la plaine empties into the Bassin de Naurouze
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  Summit level sign at the watershed point
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  Lock on the Canal du Midi at Naurouze.
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  Sign indicating the Océan Lock at the Seuil de Naurouze.
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  Canal du Midi summit plaque, Seuil de Naurouze, August 2000