Where did Fountains Begin?
Where did Fountains Begin? The amazing or decorative effect of a fountain is just one of the purposes it fulfills, as well as delivering drinking water and adding a decorative touch to your property.
Pure functionality was the original purpose of fountains. Inhabitants of urban areas, townships and small towns used them as a source of drinking water and a place to wash up, which meant that fountains needed to be connected to nearby aqueduct or spring. Until the late nineteenth, century most water fountains functioned using the force of gravity to allow water to flow or jet into the air, therefore, they needed a source of water such as a reservoir or aqueduct located higher than the fountain. Fountains were an optimal source of water, and also served to adorn living areas and memorialize the artist. The main components used by the Romans to build their fountains were bronze or stone masks, mostly illustrating animals or heroes. During the Middle Ages, Muslim and Moorish garden planners incorporated fountains to create mini depictions of the gardens of paradise. To show his prominence over nature, French King Louis XIV included fountains in the Garden of Versailles. Seventeen and 18 century Popes sought to laud their positions by including beautiful baroque-style fountains at the point where restored Roman aqueducts arrived into the city.
Urban fountains built at the end of the nineteenth served only as decorative and celebratory adornments since indoor plumbing provided the necessary drinking water. Fountains using mechanical pumps instead of gravity enabled fountains to provide recycled water into living spaces as well as create unique water effects.
Nowadays, fountains decorate public areas and are used to honor individuals or events and fill recreational and entertainment needs.
Rome’s First Water Transport Solutions
Rome’s First Water Transport Solutions Prior to 273, when the 1st elevated aqueduct, Aqua Anio Vetus, was made in Rome, residents who resided on hillsides had to journey even further down to gather their water from natural sources. During this period, there were only 2 other technologies capable of supplying water to higher areas, subterranean wells and cisterns, which accumulated rainwater. Beginning in the sixteenth century, a unique method was introduced, using Acqua Vergine’s subterranean portions to supply water to Pincian Hill. As originally constructed, the aqueduct was provided along the length of its channel with pozzi (manholes) constructed at regular intervals. Although they were primarily designed to make it possible to support the aqueduct, Cardinal Marcello Crescenzi started out using the manholes to collect water from the channel, opening when he acquired the property in 1543. He didn’t get an adequate amount water from the cistern that he had manufactured on his residential property to gather rainwater. That is when he decided to create an access point to the aqueduct that ran underneath his residential property.