The Source of Today's Garden Water Fountains
The Source of Today's Garden Water Fountains Pope Nicholas V, himself a well educated man, governed the Roman Catholic Church from 1397 to 1455 during which time he commissioned many translations of old classical Greek documents into Latin. It was imperative for him to beautify the city of Rome to make it worthy of being known as the capital of the Christian world. In 1453 the Pope instigated the rebuilding of the Aqua Vergine, an historic Roman aqueduct which had carried clean drinking water into the city from eight miles away. The ancient Roman custom of building an awe-inspiring commemorative fountain at the location where an aqueduct arrived, also known as a mostra, was resurrected by Nicholas V. The Trevi Fountain now occupies the space previously filled with a wall fountain crafted by Leon Battista Albert, an architect employed by the Pope. The aqueduct he had reconditioned included modifications and extensions which eventually allowed it to supply water to the Trevi Fountain as well as the famed baroque fountains in the Piazza del Popolo and the Piazza Navona.The Defining Characteristics of Classic Greek Sculpture
The Defining Characteristics of Classic Greek Sculpture Archaic Greeks were renowned for creating the first freestanding statuary; up till then, most carvings were formed out of walls and pillars as reliefs. Most of these freestanding sculptures were what is known as kouros figures, statues of young, attractive male or female (kore) Greeks. The kouroi, viewed by the Greeks to represent beauty, had one foot stretched out of a strict forward-facing pose and the male figurines were regularly nude, with a strong, powerful build. In around 650 BC, the variations of the kouroi became life-sized. A huge time of modification for the Greeks, the Archaic period brought about more forms of state, expressions of art, and a greater comprehension of people and customs outside of Greece.