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Francis Canal, Serbia


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An Austrian friend has sent details of an exhibition at the Austrian National Library in Vienna. The theme is the Passeti Map, the first detailed map of the Danube covering the Hapsburg Empire, produced in the 1860s. The exhibition also includes other Hapsburg waterways, such as the Francis Canal, which linked the Danube to the Theiss. A contemporary map is below. The Francis Canal was built circa 1780, and was improved in the mid-19th century, when it was, in effect, taken over by British interests. The improvements were done by French firms, with the Eiffel Company building one new lock, and another was rebuilt using mass concrete, IIRC around 1860.

 

The Passeti map can be viewed at  https://labs.onb.ac.at/de/topic/pasetti-digital/

Franzens-Kanal_gesamt_20210530_154931.jpg

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Visited this exhibition back in the summer, very interesting it is, too (now extended to the end of January). The Pasetti map is overwhelming, we managed to give the Austrian section full attention, but that's only about a quarter of it!

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The 900 odd kilometres of navigation in that part of Serbia look at first sight like a good proposition for a pleasure boating network, albeit rather more Fenland waterways than Midlands canals (you can trace it on Google Earth, and there are a few road crossings with Street View). Then you read this in Wikipedia on the Great Backa Canal:

 

According to a number of researchers, the canal is considered one of the most polluted reservoirs in Europe and poses a threat to human health among the people living in nearby settlements. At the bottom of the canal there is up to 400,000 tons of silt which contains heavy metals and oil waste which also reach the rivers connected by the channel — the Danube and the Tisa.

 

So maybe not ...

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Pollution wasn't so much of a problem when I visited in 1997. When taking this photo of Bezdan Lock, where the canal joins the Danube, it was suggested that I did not take too long as there could be Croatian snippers on the far bank of the river.

1997 Francis Canal 115 Bezdan.jpg

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