- Baťa Canal
Baťa Canal (in Czech "Baťův kanál" or "Průplav Otrokovice-Rohatec") is a navigable
canal on Morava river in theCzech Republic . The water canal was built during 1934-38 and today it serves mainly for recreational cruises.History
Reasons for building the canal were two: attempt to increase level of
groundwater after Morava River was regulated and as an initial phase of long planned but never realizedDanube-Oder-Canal .The immediate reason for the construction was need to transfer
lignite from mine inRatíškovice to theOtrokovice power plant. Both were owned byBata Shoes ("Baťovy závody") and the company was the main investor (the rest was paid by the state). Construction started onOctober 16 1934 and was finished during autumn 1938. The canal was named afterTomáš Baťa , founder of the company.Technical details
The route is 51.8 km long, of which 27 km fall to the
Morava river, 1 km to theDřevnice river and 24 km is artificial canal. Difference in water levels is 18.6 m.Totally 33 bridges spanned over the canal. The canal had 14
canal lock s. Some parts of technical infrastructure were quite unique at the time of construction.Canal today
During
World War II the canal was severely damaged and only partially repaired (repairs lasted until 1949). Its use for transportation declined and in 1972 it was officially abandoned.In 1995 the route was reopened for sightseeing tours. After repairs 13 canal locks are accessible now. The canal became the most popular tourist destination of the region. It is also used for transportation of industrial goods and plans exist to extend it downstream to the border of
Slovakia . [http://node0.bvv.cz/i2000/Akce/b-go.nsf/WWWAllPDocsID/MKAA-6KKH5W?OpenDocument&LANG=CZ&NAV=1&ID=0]External links
* [http://www.batacanal.cz/ Canal website] (cz, en)
* [http://www.tyrkys.cz/clanek/porizek4.html History of the canal] (cz)
* [http://www.batuvkanal.net/galerie.html Se of photos from the canal]
* [http://www.straznice-mesto.cz/photogallery/f_batacanal.htm Another set of photos]
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