The Public Water Fountains

The Public Water Fountains As initially conceived, water fountains were designed to be practical, guiding water from streams or reservoirs to the citizens of cities and villages, where the water could be used for cooking food, washing, and drinking. Gravity was the power supply of water fountains up until the close of the 19th century, using the forceful power of water traveling down hill from a spring or brook to squeeze the water through valves or other outlets. Striking and spectacular, prominent water fountains have been constructed as monuments in nearly all cultures. If you saw the earliest fountains, you would not recognize them as fountains. Simple stone basins created from nearby rock were the original fountains, used for spiritual ceremonies and drinking water. Stone basins are believed to have been 1st utilized around 2000 BC. The spraying of water appearing from small spouts was pressured by gravity, the only power source builders had in those days. The placement of the fountains was influenced by the water source, which is why you’ll usually find them along reservoirs, waterways, or rivers. Fountains with elaborate decoration started to show up in Rome in approximately 6 BC, usually gods and creatures, made with natural stone or bronze. The Romans had an intricate system of aqueducts that furnished the water for the numerous fountains that were placed throughout the urban center.

How Technical Concepts of Water Fountains Spread

How Technical Concepts of Water Fountains Spread The circulated documents and illustrated pamphlets of the day contributed to the advancements of scientific technology, and were the primary methods of dissiminating useful hydraulic information and water feature ideas throughout Europe. Technical Concepts Water Fountains Spread 87961180818419616379.jpg

Technical Concepts Water Fountains Spread 87961180818419616379.jpg

An un-named French water feature engineer was an internationally renowned hydraulic leader in the late 1500's. His competence in developing landscapes and grottoes with built-in and imaginative water fountains began in Italy and with commissions in Brussels, London and Germany. He wrote a publication named “The Principles of Moving Forces” toward the end of his lifetime while in France that became the essential tome on hydraulic mechanics and engineering. Detailing the latest hydraulic technologies, the publication also modernized critical hydraulic breakthroughs of classical antiquity. Prominent among these works were those of Archimedes, the inventor of the water screw, a mechanical way of transferring water. An decorative fountain with the sun heating up the water in two vessels stashed in an neighboring area was displayed in one illustration. The end result: the fountain is triggered by the heated liquid expanding and rising up the pipes. Garden ponds as well as pumps, water wheels, and water feature designs are incorporated in the publication.

The Magificent First Masterpieces by Bernini

The Magificent First Masterpieces by Bernini One can find Bernini's very first masterpiece, the Barcaccia fountain, at the foot of the Trinita dei Monti in Piaza di Spagna.

Magificent First Masterpieces Bernini 52482356.jpg

Roman residents and site seers who enjoy conversation as well as being the company of others still go to this spot. Today, the city streets around Bernini's fountain are a trendy area where people go to gather, something which the artist would have been pleased to learn. The master's very first fountain of his career was built at around 1630 at the request of Pope Urbano VIII. People can now see the fountain as an illustration of a great ship gradually sinking into the Mediterranean. Period writings dating back to the 16th century indicate that the fountain was constructed as a memorial to those who lost their lives in the great flooding of the Tevere. In what became his one and only prolonged absence from Italy, Bernini {journeyed | traveled] to France in 1665.