Where did Large Garden Fountains Begin?
Where did Large Garden Fountains Begin? The amazing or ornamental effect of a fountain is just one of the purposes it fulfills, in addition to supplying drinking water and adding a decorative touch to your property.From the onset, outdoor fountains were simply there to serve as functional elements. Inhabitants of urban areas, townships and small towns utilized them as a source of drinking water and a place to wash, which meant that fountains needed to be linked to nearby aqueduct or spring. Up until the 19th century, fountains had to be more elevated and closer to a water supply, including aqueducts and reservoirs, in order to take advantage of gravity which fed the fountains. Designers thought of fountains as amazing additions to a living space, however, the fountains also served to supply clean water and celebrate the artist responsible for creating it.
Animals or heroes made of bronze or stone masks were often used by Romans to decorate their fountains. Muslims and Moorish garden designers of the Middle Ages included fountains to re-create smaller models of the gardens of paradise. The fountains seen in the Gardens of Versailles were meant to show the power over nature held by King Louis XIV of France. The Popes of the 17th and 18th centuries were glorified with baroque style fountains made to mark the arrival points of Roman aqueducts.
Urban fountains created at the end of the nineteenth functioned only as decorative and celebratory ornaments since indoor plumbing provided the necessary drinking water. Gravity was substituted by mechanical pumps in order to enable fountains to bring in clean water and allow for amazing water displays.
Embellishing city parks, honoring people or events and entertaining, are some of the uses of modern-day fountains.
Rome’s Ingenious Water Delivery Systems
Rome’s Ingenious Water Delivery Systems
Rome’s 1st raised aqueduct, Aqua Anio Vetus, was built in 273 BC; before that, inhabitants residing at higher elevations had to rely on natural streams for their water. When aqueducts or springs weren’t accessible, people dwelling at raised elevations turned to water removed from underground or rainwater, which was made available by wells and cisterns. In the early sixteenth century, the city began to make use of the water that ran underground through Acqua Vergine to deliver water to Pincian Hill. As originally constructed, the aqueduct was provided along the length of its channel with pozzi (manholes) constructed at regular intervals. The manholes made it easier to thoroughly clean the channel, but it was also possible to use buckets to pull water from the aqueduct, as we observed with Cardinal Marcello Crescenzi when he possessed the property from 1543 to 1552, the year he died. The cistern he had constructed to gather rainwater wasn’t sufficient to meet his water demands. Fortunately, the aqueduct sat below his property, and he had a shaft opened to give him accessibility.