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3 reviews of Allées Paul Riquet

First channel tunnel

At the heart of Béziers is where a large part of dining and entertainment in this city is showcased. Department of Hérault (Languedoc-Roussillon). This is a passage with a pedestrian area with very broad wooded walkways on both sides for the movement of vehicles. The trees in the central part practically cover its surface, giving it a very special romantic touch. It is full of rooftop bars and restaurants that populate both sides of the boulevard. At one end is the city's main theater, opened in 1844. This building highlights the sculptures of David d'Angers and the bronze doors of Hardouin. On the other it opens up "le plateau des poètes" ("The Garden of the Poets"), a large English garden opened in the nineteenth century that allows the railway station to join the city's main artery, the boulevard Paul Riquet.

This charming passage is named after Pierre-Paul Riquet, the engineer who carried out the work of the Canal du Midi. Riquet was born in Béziers in 1609 in a family of merchants and nobles and developed a thriving career in the administration of the salt tax (imposts). Riquet managed to find a solution to the problem of water supply in much of France proposing a canal connecting the Atlantic to the Mediterranean. Until then no one was able to find a technical solution, and Riquet achieved it through knowledge of the massif of the Montagne Noire, and the theories of Adam Craponne an engineer from Provence. These techniques are based on marking a watershed point to direct the flow of water. For the Canal du Midi this point was Naurouze seuil, 48 meters above the river Garonne. While realising the work, Riquet used the revenue as administrator of the Gabelas to reinvest in the building of the canal (two million pounds with a total cost of fifteen million), and received some of the tolls on it. He continued to be tenacious, even disobeying government orders. The Malpas Tunnel, eventually became the first tunnel of history created for the passage of a channel. Riquet's audacity was not limited to technical precision, as he was also the first to establish monthly pay for workers and Social Security.
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