Acqua Vergine: The Remedy to Rome's Water Challenges
Acqua Vergine: The Remedy to Rome's Water Challenges Previous to 273, when the very first elevated aqueduct, Aqua Anio Vetus, was built in Roma, inhabitants who dwelled on hillsides had to journey even further down to get their water from natural sources. If residents living at higher elevations did not have access to springs or the aqueduct, they’d have to count on the remaining existing techniques of the time, cisterns that compiled rainwater from the sky and subterranean wells that received the water from under ground. In the early sixteenth century, the city began to use the water that flowed beneath the earth through Acqua Vergine to supply drinking water to Pincian Hill. As originally constructed, the aqueduct was provided along the length of its channel with pozzi (manholes) constructed at regular intervals.
During the some 9 years he possessed the residential property, from 1543 to 1552, Cardinal Marcello Crescenzi made use of these manholes to take water from the channel in containers, though they were originally designed for the intent of cleaning and maintenance the aqueduct. Apparently, the rainwater cistern on his property wasn’t enough to fulfill his needs. To provide himself with a more effective system to assemble water, he had one of the manholes opened, giving him access to the aqueduct below his residence.
Contemporary Garden Decor: Fountains and their Roots
Contemporary Garden Decor: Fountains and their Roots A fountain, an incredible piece of engineering, not only supplies drinking water as it pours into a basin, it can also launch water high into the air for a noteworthy effect.Pure functionality was the original role of fountains. Residents of urban areas, townships and small towns used them as a source of drinking water and a place to wash, which meant that fountains had to be connected to nearby aqueduct or spring. Up to the late 19th century, water fountains had to be near an aqueduct or reservoir and more elevated than the fountain so that gravity could make the water flow down or shoot high into the air. Fountains were not only used as a water source for drinking water, but also to decorate homes and celebrate the artist who created it. The main components used by the Romans to build their fountains were bronze or stone masks, mostly illustrating animals or heroes. During the Middle Ages, Muslim and Moorish garden designers included fountains in their designs to mimic the gardens of paradise.
The fountains found in the Gardens of Versailles were intended 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 built to mark the arrival points of Roman aqueducts.
Since indoor plumbing became the norm of the day for fresh, drinking water, by the end of the 19th century urban fountains were no longer needed for this purpose and they became purely ornamental. Fountains using mechanical pumps instead of gravity allowed fountains to bring recycled water into living spaces as well as create special water effects.
Embellishing city parks, honoring people or events and entertaining, are some of the purposes of modern-day fountains.
The Original Water Feature Creative Designers
The Original Water Feature Creative Designers Often serving as architects, sculptors, artists, engineers and highly educated scholars all in one, from the 16th to the later part of the 18th century, fountain designers were multi-faceted individuals, Exemplifying the Renaissance skilled artist as a imaginative master, Leonardo da Vinci toiled as an innovator and scientific expert. He systematically noted his ideas in his currently celebrated notebooks, after his immense fascination in the forces of nature led him to examine the characteristics and movement of water.
Transforming private villa settings into ingenious water showcases packed with symbolic interpretation and natural beauty, early Italian water fountain engineers fused imagination with hydraulic and gardening knowledge. Known for his virtuosity in archeology, architecture and garden design, Pirro Ligorio, the humanist, provided the vision behind the magnificence in Tivoli. Well versed in humanistic themes as well as established technical readings, other fountain designers were masterminding the phenomenal water marbles, water functions and water jokes for the various estates near Florence.