Acqua Vergine: The Remedy to Rome's Water Problems
Acqua Vergine: The Remedy to Rome's Water Problems Aqua Anio Vetus, the first raised aqueduct founded in Rome, started off delivering the people living in the hills with water in 273 BC, even though they had relied on natural springs up until then. If residents living at higher elevations did not have access to springs or the aqueduct, they’d have to depend on the other existing technologies of the time, cisterns that collected rainwater from the sky and subterranean wells that received the water from under ground.
From the beginning of the sixteenth century, water was routed to Pincian Hill by way of the subterranean channel of Acqua Vergine. Through its initial construction, pozzi (or manholes) were added at set intervals alongside the aqueduct’s channel. During the some 9 years he possessed the property, from 1543 to 1552, Cardinal Marcello Crescenzi used these manholes to take water from the network in containers, though they were previously established for the intent of cleaning and servicing the aqueduct. Whilst the cardinal also had a cistern to get rainwater, it couldn't supply sufficient water. To provide himself with a much more effective means to obtain water, he had one of the manholes opened, providing him access to the aqueduct below his residence.
A Chronicle of Outdoor Water Fountains
A Chronicle of Outdoor Water Fountains Pope Nicholas V, himself a learned man, reigned the Roman Catholic Church from 1397 to 1455 during which time he commissioned many translations of ancient classical Greek texts into Latin.
He undertook the embellishment of Rome to turn it into the model seat of the Christian world. At the bidding of the Pope, the Aqua Vergine, a ruined aqueduct which had transported clean drinking water into Rome from eight miles away, was reconditioned starting in 1453. The ancient Roman custom of building an imposing commemorative fountain at the location where an aqueduct arrived, also known as a mostra, was resurrected 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 Trevi Fountain as well as the renowned baroque fountains located in the Piazza del Popolo and the Piazza Navona were eventually supplied with water from the modified aqueduct he had rebuilt.
Where did Large Garden Fountains Come From?
Where did Large Garden Fountains Come From? 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 complement your home.
Originally, fountains only served a practical purpose. Water fountains were connected to a spring or aqueduct to provide potable water as well as bathing water for cities, townships and villages. Up until the nineteenth, fountains had to be higher and closer to a water supply, such as 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 artist who created it. Bronze or stone masks of animals and heroes were commonly seen on Roman fountains. To depict the gardens of paradise, Muslim and Moorish garden planners of the Middle Ages introduced fountains to their designs. The fountains found in the Gardens of Versailles were meant to show the power over nature held by King Louis XIV of France. The Popes of the 17th and 18th centuries were glorified with baroque style fountains constructed to mark the place of entry of Roman aqueducts.
The end of the 19th century saw the increase in usage of indoor plumbing to supply drinking water, so urban fountains were relegated to purely decorative elements. Fountains using mechanical pumps instead of gravity enabled fountains to deliver recycled water into living spaces as well as create special water effects.
Beautifying city parks, honoring people or events and entertaining, are some of the uses of modern-day fountains.
Greece: Architectural Statues
Greece: Architectural Statues Traditionally, the vast majority of sculptors were paid by the temples to adorn the elaborate pillars and archways with renderings of the gods, but as the period came to a close it grew to be more common for sculptors to portray ordinary people as well because many Greeks had begun to think of their institution as superstitious rather than sacred. Affluent individuals would sometimes commission a rendering of their forefathers for their large familial tombs; portraiture also became prevalent and would be appropriated by the Romans upon their acquisition of Greek society. The usage of sculpture and other art forms differed over the years of The Greek Classical period, a duration of creative growth when the arts had more than one goal. Greek sculpture is perhaps enticing to us today because it was an avant-garde experiment in the historic world, so it does not matter whether or not its original purpose was religious zeal or artistic enjoyment.