Lac de Saint-Ferréol

In the Montagne Noire, straddling the Haute-Garonne, the Tarn and the Aude, the Lac de Saint-Ferréol holds back the waters of the Laudot. It is the main reservoir feeding the Canal du Midi, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Pierre-Paul Riquet had it built between 1667 and 1675 to send water, along the Rigole de la Plaine, to the Seuil de Naurouze.

As the reservoir proved too small, Vauban, after an inspection in 1685, had the Cammazes tunnel dug and the dam raised. For more than two centuries it was the largest known gravity dam in the world. In the 19th century its sluice gates were remade identically in bronze. The village of Saint-Ferréol, in the commune of Revel, now borders the lake, with its beach, forest paths and the English-style garden that tumbles in cascades at the foot of the dam.

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