Etang de Montady

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Étang de Montady, seen from the Oppidum Ensérune.

The Étang de Montady is a Mediterranean lagoon that was drained by a drainage system in the Middle Ages between the municipalities of Montady and Colombiers in the canton of Capestang , around 10 km west of the city of Béziers in the French department of Hérault .

Historical map of the Étang de Montady (after drainage).

The Flachsee, originally used for salt production, was part of a whole system of shallow lagoons in the Herault area. Since the large marshland surrounding the Étang de Montady was probably a breeding ground for numerous insects, which were regarded as the source or carrier of many epidemics, the Archbishop of Narbonne permitted the four landowners with a letter of February 13, 1247 to dry the lake and its surroundings . He allowed them to direct the water into the Étang de Capestang and the Étang de Poilhes, which were in his possession. For this purpose, radial drainage ditches were dug between 1250 and 1270 by monks from a local monastery , all of which lead to a central ring distributor at the deepest point in the middle of the Étang de Montady. From there, the water was channeled into the Clavilonge stream, which flows into the Étang de Capestang. The star-shaped canals resulted in a geometric parcel structure of around 2.5 km in diameter in the Feldmark , which is still striking today and is sometimes jokingly called "Le Gateau du Roi" (King's Cake) because of its shape similarity.

Since the hill of Ensérune, which towers around 120 m above the surrounding area, lies between the two ponds , a 1300 m long and up to 30 m deep underground tunnel had to be dug through the hill with the simplest of tools. In the hill of Ensérune intersect today at various levels even three tunnels: the drainage channel at the deepest level, the 1679-1680 by Pierre-Paul Riquet to build the Canal du Midi scale tunnel of Malpas (to this first channel tunnel in the world Riquet inspired by the medieval tunnel) and a 19th century tunnel on the Béziers – Narbonne railway line.

The drainage of the Étang de Montady resulted in around 425 hectares of land ideally suited for growing grain and white wine vines on the fertile mud deposits  . The medieval drainage system is still functional today. However, the drainage system is now used for irrigation, the water for this is taken from the Canal du Midi. When the phylloxera introduced from North America caused devastating damage, especially in French viticulture, around 1870, the parcels of the star with vines were briefly submerged again, which brought local success against the insect pest.

On the hill of Ensérune there was once the Oppidum Ensérune, an Iberian-Greek settlement founded in the 6th century BC, of ​​which remains have been preserved. From there, the star of the Étang de Montady can be seen particularly well.

By decree of July 26, 1974, the Étang de Montady was placed under protection by the Hérault département as a "site pittoresque".

literature

  • P. Carrière: Le dessèchement et l'aménagement hydraulique de l'étang de Montady (Hérault). Bulletin 14.2 / 3, Société Languedocienne de Géographie, 1980, pp. 199-229.
  • Jean-Loup Abbé: À la conquête des étangs. L'aménagement de l'espace dans le Languedoc méditerranéen (XIIe – XVe siècle). Presses Universitaires du Mirail, Toulouse 2006, ISBN 2-85816-829-6 .
  • Hubert Gallet de Santerre: Ensérune. Paris 1981, ISBN 2-85822-007-7 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ La Maison du Malpas - Center touristique et culturel de la Domitienne . lemalpas.com. Archived from the original on August 30, 2009. Retrieved on May 8, 2011: "Un lac infect dont les eaux stagnantes portent au loin la maladie et la mort."
  2. ↑ Decouvertes de l'Herault: Montady ( Memento of December 30, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) (English)
  3. ↑ Conseil général de l'Hérault: CG34: Territoire: Les étangs et les fleuves ( Memento of November 14, 2008 in the Internet Archive )

Coordinates: 43 ° 19 ′ 12 ″  N , 3 ° 7 ′ 23 ″  E