BRIARE

a town of north-central France in the department of Loiret on the right bank of the Loire, 45½ m. S.E. of Orléans on the railway to Nevers. Pop. (1906) 4613. Briare, the Brivodorum of the Romans, is situated at the extremity of the Canal of Briare, which unites the Loire and its lateral canal with the Loing and so with the Seine. The canal of Briare was constructed from 1605 to 1642 and is about 36 m. long. The industries include the manufacture of fine pottery, and of so-called porcelain buttons made of felspar and milk by a special process; its inventor, Bapterosses, has a bust in the town. The canal traffic is in wood, iron, coal, building materials, &c. A modern hospital and church, and the hôtel de ville installed in an old moated château, are the chief buildings. The lateral canal of the Loire crosses the Loire near Briare by a fine canal-bridge 720 yds. in length.