Modern Garden Decoration: Garden Fountains and their Roots
Modern Garden Decoration: Garden Fountains and their Roots A water fountain is an architectural piece that pours water into a basin or jets it high into the air in order to supply drinkable water, as well as for decorative purposes.The main purpose of a fountain was originally strictly functional. People in cities, towns and villages received their drinking water, as well as water to bathe and wash, from aqueducts or springs nearby. Up until the nineteenth, fountains had to be more elevated and closer to a water source, including aqueducts and reservoirs, in order to take advantage of gravity which fed the fountains. Fountains were not only used as a water source for drinking water, but also to decorate homes and celebrate the designer who created it. Animals or heroes made of bronze or stone masks were often utilized by Romans to beautify their fountains. To depict the gardens of paradise, Muslim and Moorish garden planners of the Middle Ages added fountains to their designs. Fountains played a considerable role in the Gardens of Versailles, all part of French King Louis XIV’s desire to exert his power over nature.
Seventeen and 18 century Popes sought to extol their positions by including decorative baroque-style fountains at the point where restored Roman aqueducts arrived into the city.
Urban fountains built at the end of the 19th century functioned only as decorative and celebratory ornaments since indoor plumbing provided the essential drinking water. Fountains using mechanical pumps instead of gravity enabled fountains to bring recycled water into living spaces as well as create special water effects.
Modern-day fountains function mostly as decoration for community spaces, to honor individuals or events, and enhance entertainment and recreational activities.
The Circulation of Outdoor Garden Fountain Industrial Knowledge in Europe
The Circulation of Outdoor Garden Fountain Industrial Knowledge in Europe
Instrumental to the advancement of scientific technology were the printed papers and illustrated books of the time. They were also the primary method of transmitting practical hydraulic information and water fountain design ideas throughout Europe. In the late 1500's, a French fountain designer (whose name has been lost) was the internationally recognized hydraulics pioneer. With imperial commissions in Brussels, London and Germany, he started his work in Italy, building experience in garden design and grottoes with incorporated and imaginative water features. The text, “The Principles of Moving Forces,” penned near the end of his life in France, turned into the fundamental text on hydraulic mechanics and engineering. Classical antiquity hydraulic discoveries were elaborated as well as updates to essential classical antiquity hydraulic breakthroughs in the book. As a mechanized means to move water, Archimedes devised the water screw, key among key hydraulic breakthroughs. Sunlight warmed the water in two undetectable vessels next to the decorative fountain were displayed in an illustration. What occurs is the hot water expanded, goes up and closes up the pipes leading to the fountain, thereby leading to activation. Garden ponds as well as pumps, water wheels, and water feature designs are included in the book.