This 360-km net­work of nav­i­ga­ble water­ways link­ing the Mediter­ranean and the Atlantic through 328 struc­tures (locks, aque­ducts, bridges, tun­nels, etc.) is one of the most remark­able feats of civ­il engi­neer­ing in mod­ern times. Built between 1667 and 1694, it paved the way for the Indus­tri­al Rev­o­lu­tion. The care that its cre­ator, Pierre-Paul Riquet, took in the design and the way it blends with its sur­round­ings turned a tech­ni­cal achieve­ment into a work of art.