Agen, France - Peniche (barge) on Canal du Midi / Pont Canal - RP postcard 1960

Postcard
• Picture / Image:  Agen, France - Une Peniche sur le Canal du Midi, a la sortie di Pont-Canal (A barge on the Canal du Midi near the entrance to the Pont-Canal) - real photo type
• Publisher:  Printania
• Postally used:  yes
• Stamp:  2f red and blue sower
• Postmark(s):  Agen 6 April 1950 - Agen son Susee ses Sites slogan postmark
• Sent to:  Avenue Mozart, Paris 15th arr.
• Notes / condition: 

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Text from the free encyclopedia WIKIPEDIA may appear below to give a little background information (internal links may not  work) :

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The Canal du Midi (Occitan: Canal de las Doas Mars, meaning canal of the two seas) is a 241 km (150 mi) long canal in Southern France (French: le Midi). It was originally named the Canal royal en Languedoc (Royal Canal in Languedoc) but the French revolutionaries renamed it to Canal du Midi in 1789. It was considered at the time to be one of the greatest construction works of the 17th century.^[1]

The canal connects the Garonne River to the Étang de Thau on the Mediterranean and along with the 193 km (120 mi) 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, the Canal du Midi means that part initially built ??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.

It was the wheat trade that motivated the construction of the canal. Colbert authorized the commencement of work by a royal edict of October 1666. Under the supervision of Pierre-Paul Riquet the construction took from 1666 to 1681 during the reign of Louis XIV. The Canal du Midi is one of the oldest canals of Europe still in operation (the prototype being the Briare Canal). The challenges in these works are closely related to the challenges of river transport in modern times. The key challenge, raised by Pierre-Paul Riquet, was to convey water from the Montagne Noire (Black Mountains) to the Seuil de Naurouze, the highest point of the canal.

A péniche barge, or spitz barge is a type of river barge, visually similar to a Thames barge, but built to different specifications.

Péniche barges were built to fit the post-1880s French waterways, which meant that the barges could be no longer than 125 feet (38 m), and as a result of the wish to maximise space for freight, the barges tend to be flat-sided, with short, rounded bows and sterns.^[1] The dimensions were influenced by the Freycinet gauge. Many have been converted into pleasure craft.

type=real photographic (rp)

theme=topographical: rest of the world

sub-theme=europe

county/ country=france

transportation type=inland waterways

number of items=single

period=1945 - present

postage condition=unposted