Cesse Aqueduct

About

The Cesse Canal Bridge is a canal bridge carrying the Canal du Midi above the Cesse. It is located in Sallèles-d'Aude in the department of Aude, about 1.8 km from the port of Somail. Originally, the canal was crossing Cesse at level.

Pierre-Paul Riquet, the first architect of the canal, had placed a curved road of 205 m long and 9.10 m high through the Cesse to raise the water level and make the crossing possible. As this crossing system proved problematic during the flood, the roadway was abandoned and replaced by a canal bridge. The book is recommended by Vauban during his inspection tour of the Canal du Midi.

Antoine Niquet drew up the plans and his construction, between 1689 and 1690, was entrusted to master mason Jean Goudet. The bridge consists of three arches, the middle one being 18.3 m and the two arches are 14.6 m each. The upstream facade, damaged by the violent floods of the Cesse, had to be completely redesigned.

The downstream façade has not changed since the 17th century. Close to the bridge-channel there is the spanner of the Patiasses, the "Porte Minervoise" where leads the mirepeisset channel, a feeder of the canal...