The Wiener Neustädter Kanal was constructed to improve the transport of wood, bricks and coal from areas south of the Danube to Vienna. The building of the sixty three kilometre long canal, which lasted from 1797 to 1803, was inspired by English canal building which had drastically improved transport economics and fuelled, literally, the industrial revolution. Of the original canal only thirty six kilometres are still navigable and today are maintained as a recreational facility. Along the margins there are to be found an abundance of wildlife and plants.