Bernini’s First Italian Water Fountains
Bernini’s First Italian Water Fountains The Barcaccia, Bernini's first water fountain, is a striking chef d'oeuvre built at the foot of the Trinita dei Monti in Piaza di Spagna. This area continues to be filled with Roman locals and tourists who enjoy exchanging gossip or going over the day's news. One of the city’s most stylish meeting spots are the streets surrounding Bernini's fountain, which would undoubtedly have brought a smile to the great Bernini. The master's first water fountain of his professional life was built at around 1630 at the behest of Pope Urbano VIII. Depicted in the fountain's design is a large ship gradually sinking into the Mediterranean Sea. Period reports dating back to the 16th century indicate that the fountain was constructed as a monument to those who lost their lives in the great flooding of the Tevere. In what became his one and only extended absence from Italy, Bernini {journeyed | traveled] to France in 1665.
The Genesis Of Wall Fountains
The Genesis Of Wall Fountains The amazing or ornamental effect of a fountain is just one of the purposes it fulfills, in addition to delivering drinking water and adding a decorative touch to your property.From the beginning, outdoor fountains were soley meant to serve as functional elements. People in cities, towns and villages received their drinking water, as well as water to bathe and wash, via aqueducts or springs nearby. Used until the nineteenth century, in order for fountains to flow or shoot up into the air, their origin of water such as reservoirs or aqueducts, had to be higher than the water fountain in order to benefit from gravity.
Fountains were an excellent source of water, and also served to adorn living areas and celebrate the artist. Bronze or stone masks of wildlife and heroes were frequently seen on Roman fountains. During the Middle Ages, Muslim and Moorish garden designers included fountains in their designs to mimic the gardens of paradise. Fountains played a significant role in the Gardens of Versailles, all part of French King Louis XIV’s desire to exercise his power over nature. The Romans of the 17th and 18th centuries manufactured baroque decorative fountains to glorify the Popes who commissioned them as well as to mark the location where the restored Roman aqueducts entered the city.
Since indoor plumbing became the norm of the day for clean, 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.
Modern-day fountains serve mostly as decoration for community spaces, to honor individuals or events, and enhance entertainment and recreational activities.
Outdoor Fountains Recorded by History
Outdoor Fountains Recorded by History Towns and villages depended on working water fountains to funnel water for preparing food, washing, and cleaning from nearby sources like lakes, channels, or creeks. A source of water higher in elevation than the fountain was needed to pressurize the movement and send water spraying from the fountain's spout, a system without equal until the late nineteenth century. Fountains throughout history have been created as monuments, impressing local citizens and tourists alike.
If you saw the very first fountains, you wouldn't identify them as fountains. The 1st known water fountain was a natural stone basin created that served as a receptacle for drinking water and ceremonial functions. Natural stone basins as fountains have been discovered from 2,000 BC. The first fountains used in ancient civilizations depended on gravity to manipulate the movement of water through the fountain. These ancient water fountains were created to be functional, usually situated along aqueducts, creeks and rivers to provide drinking water. Fountains with ornate decoration started to show up in Rome in approx. 6 B.C., usually gods and creatures, made with stone or copper-base alloy. The impressive aqueducts of Rome supplied water to the incredible public fountains, most of which you can travel to today.