The Outcome of the Norman Conquest on Anglo Saxon Garden Design
The Outcome of the Norman Conquest on Anglo Saxon Garden Design The Anglo-Saxon way of life was drastically changed by the arrival of the Normans in the later eleventh century.
At the time of the conquest, the Normans surpassed the Anglo-Saxons in building design and cultivation. Nonetheless the Normans had to pacify the overall territory before they could concentrate on home life, domestic architecture, and decoration. Because of this, castles were cruder buildings than monasteries: Monasteries were often significant stone buildings located in the biggest and most fecund valleys, while castles were erected on windy crests where their inhabitants dedicated time and space to projects for offense and defense. Gardening, a peaceful occupation, was impracticable in these unproductive fortifications. Berkeley Castle is possibly the most unchanged model in existence at present of the early Anglo-Norman style of architecture. The keep is said to date from William the Conqueror's time. An enormous terrace encompasses the building, serving as an obstacle to assailants intending to excavate under the castle walls. On one of these parapets is a picturesque bowling green covered in grass and surrounded by an aged hedge of yew that has been designed into coarse battlements.
Contemporary Garden Decor: Fountains and their Roots
Contemporary Garden Decor: Fountains and their Roots A fountain, an amazing piece of engineering, not only supplies drinking water as it pours into a basin, it can also propel water high into the air for a noteworthy effect. The primary purpose of a fountain was originally strictly practical. Residents of cities, townships and small towns utilized them as a source of drinking water and a place to wash, which meant that fountains needed to be linked to nearby aqueduct or spring. 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 supply of water such as a reservoir or aqueduct located higher than the fountain. Artists thought of fountains as wonderful additions to a living space, however, the fountains also served to supply clean water and honor the designer responsible for creating it. Animals or heroes made of bronze or stone masks were often utilized by Romans to decorate their fountains. Muslims and Moorish garden designers of the Middle Ages included fountains to re-create smaller versions of the gardens of paradise. King Louis XIV of France wanted to demonstrate his superiority over nature by including fountains in the Gardens 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.
Since indoor plumbing became the standard of the day for fresh, drinking water, by the end of the 19th century urban fountains were no longer needed for this purpose and they became purely decorative. Fountains using mechanical pumps instead of gravity allowed fountains to provide recycled water into living spaces as well as create unique water effects.
Contemporary fountains are used to adorn public spaces, honor individuals or events, and enhance recreational and entertainment events.
Inventors of the First Water Fountains
Inventors of the First Water Fountains
Frequently working as architects, sculptors, artists, engineers and cultivated scholars, all in one, fountain creators were multi-talented people from the 16th to the late 18th century. Leonardo da Vinci, a Renaissance artist, was celebrated as an ingenious master, inventor and scientific expert. He carefully documented his observations in his now celebrated notebooks, following his tremendous fascination in the forces of nature guided him to investigate the attributes and movement of water. Converting private villa configurations into amazing water displays full with symbolic significance and natural beauty, early Italian water fountain designers fused resourcefulness with hydraulic and horticultural ability. The magnificence in Tivoli were created by the humanist Pirro Ligorio, who was widely known for his skill in archeology, engineering and garden design. Other fountain developers, masterminding the incredible water marbles, water attributes and water antics for the many mansions near Florence, were tried and tested in humanist subject areas and time-honored scientific readings.