Contemporary Garden Decoration: Garden Fountains and their Beginnings
Contemporary Garden Decoration: Garden Fountains and their Beginnings A fountain, an incredible piece of engineering, not only supplies drinking water as it pours into a basin, it can also propel water high into the air for a noteworthy effect.Pure practicality was the original role of fountains. Cities, towns and villages made use of nearby aqueducts or springs to provide them with potable water as well as water where they could bathe or wash. Until the late 19th, century most water fountains functioned using the force of gravity to allow water to flow or jet into the air, therefore, they needed a supply of water such as a reservoir or aqueduct located higher than the fountain. Fountains were an excellent source of water, and also served to adorn living areas and celebrate the designer.
The main materials used by the Romans to build their fountains were bronze or stone masks, mostly depicting animals or heroes. 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 illustrate his superiority over nature by including fountains in the Gardens of Versailles. Seventeen and 18 century Popes sought to extol their positions by adding beautiful baroque-style fountains at the point where restored Roman aqueducts arrived into the city.
Indoor plumbing became the main source of water by the end of the 19th century thereby limiting urban fountains to mere decorative elements. The creation of special water effects and the recycling of water were two things made possible by replacing gravity with mechanical pumps.
Modern-day fountains function mostly as decoration for community spaces, to honor individuals or events, and compliment entertainment and recreational activities.
Gian Bernini's Garden Fountains
Gian Bernini's Garden Fountains There are numerous popular fountains in the city center of Rome. Nearly all of them were planned, architected and constructed by one of the greatest sculptors and designers of the 17th century, Gian Lorenzo Bernini. Also a city architect, he had abilities as a fountain developer, and remnants of his life's work are evident throughout the streets of Rome. Bernini's father, a renowned Florentine sculptor, mentored his young son, and they ultimately moved to Rome, in order to fully express their art, primarily in the form of public water fountains and water features. The young Bernini received compliments from Popes and influential artists alike, and was an excellent worker.
He was originally recognized for his sculpture. An authority in historical Greek architecture, he used this knowledge as a base and melded it seamlessly with Roman marble, most remarkably in the Vatican. Though he was influenced by many, Michelangelo had the most serious impact on him, both personally and professionally.
The Effect of the Norman Invasion on Anglo-Saxon Gardens
The Effect of the Norman Invasion on Anglo-Saxon Gardens Anglo-Saxons felt extraordinary adjustments to their day-to-day lives in the latter half of the eleventh century due to the accession of the Normans. Architecture and gardening were abilities that the Normans excelled in, trumping that of the Anglo-Saxons at the time of the occupation. But there was no time for home life, domestic design, and adornment until the Normans had overcome the whole region. Castles were more fundamental constructions and often erected on blustery hills, where their tenants spent both time and space to practicing offense and defense, while monasteries were large stone buildings, mostly located in the widest, most fertile hollows. The serene practice of gardening was not viable in these dreary bastions. The early Anglo-Norman style of architecture is symbolized in Berkeley Castle, which is most likely the most unscathed example we have. The keep is rumored to have been conceived during the time of William the Conqueror. A significant terrace serves as a deterrent to invaders who would attempt to mine the walls of the building.
A scenic bowling green, enveloped in grass and bordered by battlements cut out of an ancient yew hedge, makes one of the terraces.
Early Water Supply Techniques in The City Of Rome
Early Water Supply Techniques in The City Of Rome Rome’s very first elevated aqueduct, Aqua Anio Vetus, was built in 273 BC; prior to that, citizens residing at higher elevations had to rely on local springs for their water.
When aqueducts or springs weren’t easily accessible, people living at higher elevations turned to water pulled from underground or rainwater, which was made available by wells and cisterns. Starting in the sixteenth century, a new system was introduced, using Acqua Vergine’s subterranean segments to generate water to Pincian Hill. Pozzi, or manholes, were made at standard stretches along the aqueduct’s channel. During the roughly 9 years he possessed the property, from 1543 to 1552, Cardinal Marcello Crescenzi used these manholes to take water from the channel in buckets, though they were initially built for the intent of cleaning and servicing the aqueduct. He didn’t get enough water from the cistern that he had built on his residential property to gather rainwater. Via an orifice to the aqueduct that ran below his property, he was in a position to reach his water needs.