The Genesis Of Outdoor Fountains
The Genesis Of Outdoor Fountains
Originally, fountains only served a practical purpose. Cities, towns and villages made use of nearby aqueducts or springs to supply them with drinking water as well as water where they could bathe or wash. 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 source of water such as a reservoir or aqueduct located higher than the fountain. Acting as an element of adornment and celebration, fountains also generated clean, fresh drinking water. Roman fountains usually depicted images of animals or heroes made of metal or stone masks. To illustrate the gardens of paradise, Muslim and Moorish garden planners of the Middle Ages added fountains to their designs. King Louis XIV of France wanted to illustrate his dominion over nature by including fountains in the Gardens of Versailles. The Popes of the 17th and 18th centuries were extolled with baroque style fountains made to mark the arrival points of Roman aqueducts.
Indoor plumbing became the key source of water by the end of the 19th century thereby limiting urban fountains to mere decorative elements. Gravity was replaced by mechanical pumps in order to permit fountains to bring in clean water and allow for beautiful water displays.
Modern-day fountains serve mostly as decoration for public spaces, to honor individuals or events, and enhance entertainment and recreational gatherings.
How Mechanical Designs And Styles of Outdoor Spread
How Mechanical Designs And Styles of Outdoor Spread The published documents and illustrated publications of the day contributed to the evolution of scientific technology, and were the chief methods of dissiminating useful hydraulic information and fountain suggestions throughout Europe. An unnamed French water fountain engineer came to be an internationally celebrated hydraulic pioneer in the later part of the 1500's. His competence in designing gardens and grottoes with integrated and ingenious water fountains began in Italy and with mandates in Brussels, London and Germany. The publication, “The Principles of Moving Forces,” penned near the end of his lifetime in France, turned into the fundamental text on hydraulic mechanics and engineering.