The Genesis Of Fountains
The Genesis Of Fountains
A water fountain is an architectural piece that pours water into a basin or jets it high into the air in order to provide drinkable water, as well as for decorative purposes. From the beginning, outdoor fountains were soley there to serve as functional elements. Water fountains were connected to a spring or aqueduct to provide drinkable water as well as bathing water for cities, townships and villages. Until the late nineteenth, century most water fountains operated 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. Acting as an element of decoration and celebration, fountains also generated clean, fresh drinking water. Bronze or stone masks of animals and heroes were commonly seen on Roman fountains. Throughout the Middle Ages, Muslim and Moorish garden planners incorporated fountains to create smaller variations of the gardens of paradise. To demonstrate his prominence over nature, French King Louis XIV included fountains in the Garden of Versailles. Seventeen and 18 century Popes sought to exalt 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 adornments since indoor plumbing provided the essential drinking water. Gravity was substituted by mechanical pumps in order to permit fountains to bring in clean water and allow for amazing water displays.
Nowadays, fountains adorn public spaces and are used to honor individuals or events and fill recreational and entertainment needs.
The Source of Modern Day Fountains
The Source of Modern Day Fountains Pope Nicholas V, himself a well educated man, reigned the Roman Catholic Church from 1397 to 1455 during which time he commissioned many translations of ancient classical Greek documents into Latin. He undertook the beautification of Rome to make it into the model seat of the Christian world. In 1453 the Pope instigated the rebuilding of the Aqua Vergine, an ancient Roman aqueduct which had carried clean drinking water into the city from eight miles away. Building a mostra, a grandiose celebratory fountain built by ancient Romans to memorialize the entry point of an aqueduct, was a tradition revived by Nicholas V. The architect Leon Battista Alberti was directed by the Pope to put up a wall fountain where we now find the Trevi Fountain. The aqueduct he had refurbished included modifications and extensions which eventually allowed it to supply water to the Trevi Fountain as well as the renowned baroque fountains in the Piazza del Popolo and the Piazza Navona.