Maintenon Aqueduct
The Aqueduct of Maintenon ( French Aqueduc de Maintenon ) is the ruins of an aqueduct begun in 1686 at the instigation of Louis XIV , but never completed , which was supposed to cross the Eure in the park of Castle Maintenon in the Eure-et-Loir department in order to reach the waters of the Eure canal to the water features in the park of Versailles about 50 km away .
In order to improve the inadequate water supply of the castle park, despite all efforts , it had been determined under Louvois , the surintendant des Bâtiments, Arts et Manufactures de France of Louis XIV., That the town of Pontgouin, about 33 km further west on the upper reaches of the Eure, was higher than the reservoirs built to operate the Versailles fountains . The water of the Eure should therefore be diverted from there and led to these reservoirs in the Eure Canal as a gravity pipe with a uniform gradient. Therefore the Eure should have been crossed at the Maintenon Castle at a height of 73 m.
Since the creek Larris near Berchères-Saint-Germain had to be built over a little further to the west, the Vauban commissioned with the planning of the canal originally proposed an approximately 17 km long aqueduct, with which this cut, the valley of the Eure, flattened it eastern slope and other difficulties of the terrain should be bridged in one go. Above the Eure the aqueduct would have had three floors with rows of arches. However, the king rejected this huge structure as too expensive. Instead, the sewer should be led over embankments as far as possible. Vauban's changed planning therefore envisaged an aqueduct with a length of only 955 m and only a series of 47 arches with a height of 28.5 m. The height difference between the gravity line of the canal and the now significantly lower aqueduct was to be overcome by a culvert .
The construction work, for which mostly soldiers were deployed, initially proceeded rapidly. The orders for the lead pipes of the culvert were awarded and the first pipes delivered when Louis XIV began the War of the Palatinate Succession ( French Guerre de la Ligue d'Augsbourg ). The soldiers were now needed for the war and the pipes were shipped to Marly. The construction site came to a standstill.
After the Nine Years War, construction work was not resumed.
The aqueduct of Maintenon is since 1875 or 1934 under monument protection .
Web links
- G. Despots, G. Bouquin: Histoire du Canal d'Eure, Aqueduc royal de Pontgouin à Versailles. On the website of the Association pour l'Etude et la Sauvegarde des Vestiges du Canal de Louis XIV et de ses Environs.
- Janine Christiany (translated from French by Katrin Schulze): The Canal de l'Eure - an unfinished work. In: DWhG - Ten Years of Water History Research and Reports, Part 2, edited by Christoph Ohlig
Individual evidence
- ↑ Roughly : Minister of Construction and Trade
- ↑ a b c Le Duc de Noailles: Histoire de madame de Maintenon et des principaux événements du règne de Louis XIV . tape 2 . Comptoir des Imprimeurs-Unis, Paris 1848 ( full text in the Google book search [accessed on May 4, 2017]).
- ↑ Les Eaux du Domaine de Versailles au 17ème siècle - Aqueduc de Maintenon on laurentour7.canalblog.com
- ↑ Note no. PA00097145 on Base Mérimée
Coordinates: 48 ° 34 ′ 59 " N , 1 ° 35 ′ 10" E