Contemporary Garden Decor: Fountains and their Roots

Contemporary Garden Decor: Fountains Roots 12159468003802.jpg

The incredible architecture of a fountain allows it to provide clean water or shoot water high into air for dramatic effect and it can also serve as an excellent design feature to complete your home.

From the onset, outdoor fountains were soley there to serve as functional elements. Water fountains were connected to a spring or aqueduct to supply potable water as well as bathing water for cities, townships and villages. Until the late 19th, century most water fountains operated 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. Designers thought of fountains as amazing additions to a living space, however, the fountains also served to provide clean water and honor the designer responsible for building it. Animals or heroes made of bronze or stone masks were often used by Romans to decorate their fountains. Throughout the Middle Ages, Muslim and Moorish garden planners incorporated fountains to create smaller variations of the gardens of paradise. King Louis XIV of France wanted to demonstrate his dominion over nature by including fountains in the Gardens of Versailles. The Romans of the 17th and 18th centuries created baroque decorative fountains to exalt the Popes who commissioned them as well as to mark the spot where the restored Roman aqueducts entered the city.

The end of the 19th century saw the rise in usage of indoor plumbing to supply drinking water, so urban fountains were relegated to purely decorative elements. The introduction of special water effects and the recycling of water were 2 things made possible by swapping gravity with mechanical pumps.

Beautifying city parks, honoring people or events and entertaining, are some of the uses of modern-day fountains.

The Early Society: Garden Fountains

The Early Society: Garden Fountains During archaeological digs on the island of Crete, various varieties of channels have been found. They not merely helped with the water supplies, they eliminated rainwater and wastewater as well. Rock and terracotta were the ingredients of choice for these conduits. When clay was chosen, it was frequently for waterways as well as water pipes which came in rectangle-shaped or spherical forms. The cone-like and U-shaped clay pipes that were uncovered haven’t been found in any other society. Knossos Palace had a advanced plumbing network made of clay piping which ran up to three meters below ground. These Minoan water lines were also used for gathering and stocking water, not just circulation. This required the clay conduits to be capable of holding water without seepage. Underground Water Transportation: This obscure setup for water circulation may have been chosen to give water to particular people or functions. Quality Water Transportation: Some scholars believe that these water lines were used to build a different distribution process for the castle.