Modern Garden Decoration: Large Outdoor Water Fountains and their Roots

From the onset, outdoor fountains were simply meant to serve as functional elements. Residents of urban areas, townships and small towns utilized them as a source of drinking water and a place to wash up, which meant that fountains needed to be linked to nearby aqueduct or spring. Up until the nineteenth, fountains had to be more elevated and closer to a water source, such as aqueducts and reservoirs, in order to take advantage of gravity which fed the fountains. Fountains were not only used as a water source for drinking water, but also to adorn homes and celebrate the designer who created it. Animals or heroes made of bronze or stone masks were often times utilized by Romans to decorate their fountains. During the Middle Ages, Muslim and Moorish garden designers included fountains in their designs to mimic the gardens of paradise. King Louis XIV of France wanted to demonstrate his superiority over nature by including fountains in the Gardens of Versailles. The Romans of the 17th and 18th centuries manufactured baroque decorative fountains to exalt the Popes who commissioned them as well as to mark the location where the restored Roman aqueducts entered the city.

Indoor plumbing became the key source of water by the end of the 19th century thereby limiting urban fountains to mere decorative elements. Amazing water effects and recycled water were made possible by replacing the force of gravity with mechanical pumps.

Modern-day fountains serve mostly as decoration for community spaces, to honor individuals or events, and compliment entertainment and recreational events.

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