Gardens of Versailles
Grand Canal
With a length of 1,500 metres and a width of 62 metres, the "Grand Canal", which was built between 1668 and 1671, physically and visually prolongs the east-west axis to the walls of the "Grand Parc". During the "Ancien Régime", the "Grand Canal" served as a venue for boating parties. In 1674, as a result of a series of diplomatic arrangements that benefited Louis XIV, the king ordered the construction of "Petite Venise" – Little Venice. Located at the junction of the "Grand Canal" and the junction of the northern transversal branch, Little Venice housed the caravels and yachts that were received from The Netherlands and the gondolas and gondoliers received as gifts from the Doge of Venice, hence the name (Marie 1968; Nolhac 1901, 1925; Thompson 2006; Verlet 1985).
1966 Venice flood
While at first the Arno River’s Florentine destruction seemed more severe, it was Venice that proved to be more difficult to conserve. John Pope-Hennessy, a British art historian, detected that for the first time the full extent of the city's problems was seen:
In response, several national and international organizations began working tirelessly in both Venice and Florence, making remarkable development in conserving countless individual sites. The most notable of these organizations included Save Venice Inc, UNESCO, Venice in Peril, and the World Monuments Fund.
In the early sixteenth century Venice's perilous physical situation was realized, when its doges tried to safeguard the lagoon city and its harbor by diverting rivers from the lagoon to prevent river silt from accumulating and blocking the lagoon. Despite these efforts, over the centuries as the mean sea level gradually rose and the foundations of many buildings settled further into the mudflats. The Venetians also gradually raised their islands, as verified by the deepest archaeological layer in St. Mark's Square, which is located approximately 10 feet below the present pavement. Thus, today's continuing flooding problem is worsened by an obsolete, 400-year old lagoon-dredging program and a sinking seabed.
In combination with measures such as coastal reinforcement, the raising of quaysides, and paving and improvement of the lagoon environment, engineers at Fiat designed the MOSE Project. These gates are able to protect the city of Venice from extreme events such as floods and morphological degradation.