Contemporary Garden Decoration: Fountains and their Beginnings
Contemporary Garden Decoration: 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 launch water high into the air for a noteworthy effect.
Pure functionality was the original role of fountains. People in cities, towns and villages received their drinking water, as well as water to bathe and wash, via aqueducts or springs nearby. Up until the 19th century, fountains had to be more elevated and closer to a water source, including aqueducts and reservoirs, in order to benefit from gravity which fed the fountains. Fountains were not only utilized as a water source for drinking water, but also to decorate homes and celebrate the designer who created it. Bronze or stone masks of animals and heroes were frequently seen on Roman fountains. Muslims and Moorish landscaping designers of the Middle Ages included fountains to re-create smaller versions of the gardens of paradise. Fountains enjoyed a considerable role in the Gardens of Versailles, all part of French King Louis XIV’s desire to exert his power over nature. The Romans of the 17th and 18th centuries manufactured baroque decorative fountains to glorify the Popes who commissioned them as well as to mark the spot where the restored Roman aqueducts entered the city.
Urban fountains created at the end of the nineteenth functioned only as decorative and celebratory ornaments since indoor plumbing provided the essential drinking water. Gravity was replaced by mechanical pumps in order to permit fountains to bring in clean water and allow for beautiful water displays.
Nowadays, fountains decorate public spaces and are used to pay tribute to individuals or events and fill recreational and entertainment needs.
A Short History of the Early Outdoor Public Fountains
A Short History of the Early Outdoor Public Fountains Towns and communities relied on working water fountains to conduct water for preparing food, washing, and cleaning up from nearby sources like ponds, channels, or springs. In the years before electricity, the spray of fountains was driven by gravity alone, commonly using an aqueduct or water resource located far away in the nearby mountains. Striking and spectacular, large water fountains have been built as memorials in many civilizations. The contemporary fountains of today bear little resemblance to the very first water fountains.
Uncomplicated stone basins crafted from local material were the first fountains, used for spiritual ceremonies and drinking water. Rock basins are thought to have been 1st utilized around the year 2000 BC. The force of gravity was the energy source that controlled the earliest water fountains. Situated near reservoirs or creeks, the functional public water fountains provided the local citizens with fresh drinking water. Animals, Gods, and Spiritual figures dominated the initial decorative Roman fountains, starting to appear in about 6 B.C.. A well-designed system of reservoirs and aqueducts kept Rome's public water fountains supplied with fresh water.