Rogny-les-Sept-Écluses () is a

commune A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or comune or other derivations may also refer to: Administrative-territorial entities * Commune (administrative division), a municipality or township ** Communes of ...

in the

Yonne Yonne () is a department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in France. It is named after the river Yonne, which flows through it, in the country's north-central part. One of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté's eight constituent departments, it is l ...

department in

Bourgogne-Franche-Comté Bourgogne-Franche-Comté (; , sometimes abbreviated BFC; Arpitan: ''Borgogne-Franche-Comtât'') is a region in Eastern France created by the 2014 territorial reform of French regions, from a merger of Burgundy and Franche-Comté. The new region ...

in north-central

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

. The name of the commune comes from its impressive seven

locks Lock(s) may refer to: Common meanings *Lock and key, a mechanical device used to secure items of importance *Lock (water navigation), a device for boats to transit between different levels of water, as in a canal Arts and entertainment * ''Lock ...

on Briare Canal.

Geography

The commune is located some west of

Auxerre Auxerre ( , ) is the capital of the Yonne department and the fourth-largest city in Burgundy. Auxerre's population today is about 35,000; the urban area (''aire d'attraction'') comprises roughly 113,000 inhabitants. Residents of Auxerre are r ...

and is crossed by the

Loing The Loing () is a long river in central France, a left tributary of the Seine. Its source is in Sainte-Colombe-sur-Loing, in the southwestern of the department of Yonne, and it flows into the Seine in Saint-Mammès, near Moret-sur-Loing. It ...

and the Briare Canal. It is situated at 20 km north of Gien and 140 km south of

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

. The commune is in the natural area of Puisaye,

History

Rogny-les-sept-écluses was simply known as Rogny before 1978, when the name was changed to mirror its famous monument. Human settlement in the area dates back to

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

times. Medals and coins bearing the image of the

Emperor Constantine Constantine I ( , ; la, Flavius Valerius Constantinus, ; ; 27 February 22 May 337), also known as Constantine the Great, was Roman emperor from AD 306 to 337, the first one to convert to Christianity. Born in Naissus, Dacia Mediterrane ...

(306-337) and the

Gaulish Gaulish was an ancient Celtic language spoken in parts of Continental Europe before and during the period of the Roman Empire. In the narrow sense, Gaulish was the language of the Celts of Gaul (now France, Luxembourg, Belgium, most of Switze ...

tyran Tetricus (268) were found along an ancient Roman road. In the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

, the lower part of the village was on wetlands, so most of the villagers lived around the church on the higher part of the village. Written traces from the 11th century indicate that the village now known as Rogny belonged to the ''Roignacum'' parish, from where the name could come. Rogny-les-Sept-Écluses - 05

Saint-Loup Church

The church is still on the hill where the historical commune stood and now dominate the village. It was dated 12th century, but the structure was modified many times. The church has kept his Romanesque

porch A porch (from Old French ''porche'', from Latin ''porticus'' "colonnade", from ''porta'' "passage") is a room or gallery located in front of an entrance of a building. A porch is placed in front of the facade of a building it commands, and form ...

. It is a listed monument. The most remarkable possession of the church is a painting called ''Les Pèlerins d'Emmaüs'' from 1757 and designated as historical monument in 1908. It was painted by Adrien Le Beau after '' Pilgrims at Emmaus'' by

Titian Tiziano Vecelli or Vecellio (; 27 August 1576), known in English as Titian ( ), was an Italian (Venetian) painter of the Renaissance, considered the most important member of the 16th-century Venetian school. He was born in Pieve di Cadore, nea ...

. The bell has a diameter of 1.20 m and is from 1699. It has been dubbed ''Isabelle''.

The seven locks and Briare Canal

The Briare Canal and its main work, the seven locks (or ''sept écluses'' in French), were part of the enormous work of Henry IV and Sully to join the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the ...

to the

English Channel The English Channel, "The Sleeve"; nrf, la Maunche, "The Sleeve" (Cotentinais) or ( Jèrriais), (Guernésiais), "The Channel"; br, Mor Breizh, "Sea of Brittany"; cy, Môr Udd, "Lord's Sea"; kw, Mor Bretannek, "British Sea"; nl, Het Kana ...

by a network of

canal Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface flo ...

s and rivers. The locks were built to join the

Loire The Loire (, also ; ; oc, Léger, ; la, Liger) is the longest river in France and the 171st longest in the world. With a length of , it drains , more than a fifth of France's land, while its average discharge is only half that of the Rhône ...

to the Seine water system. It was Hugues Cosnier's idea to built six locks (a seventh one was built later) to cross the Vallée du Loing (côte Rogny, hence the name Rogny-les-sept-écluses). Cosny had chosen Rogny for its work because of the presence of many ponds, and the water was to be used to operate the locks. Rogny-les-Sept-Écluses - 02

Construction for both the locks and the Briare Canal started in 1604, and required next to 12,000 workers, that needed to be house in the town. To these workers, some 6000 soldiers came to monitor the construction site when the construction was halted during the

Thirty Years War The Thirty Years' War was one of the longest and most destructive conflicts in European history, lasting from 1618 to 1648. Fought primarily in Central Europe, an estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died as a result of battl ...

. Material theft was a real problem at the time. The locks and the canal adjacent were finally open for navigation in 1642, under the name "Canal de Loyre en Seyne", before taking the name Briare Canal in 1666. The lock were the first of their kind to be built in France. The life of the villagers was thus linked to navigation in the area, and they were proud to lead the boats on the

towpath A towpath is a road or trail on the bank of a river, canal, or other inland waterway. The purpose of a towpath is to allow a land vehicle, beasts of burden, or a team of human pullers to tow a boat, often a barge. This mode of transport w ...

. Work was done in 1822 to modernize the locks, but they were closed in 1887, after new ones were built. Each lock is 27 meters long, for a total of 238m, and 4.32 meters wide. They were designated national historical monument in 1983.

Cultural event

Every year since 1967 at the end of July, the commune has held a pyrotechnics show next to the locks. This is also the occasion for musical and comedy performances, before the main event of the fireworks.

Geography

History

Saint-Loup Church

The seven locks and Briare Canal

Cultural event

See also