Contemporary Garden Decoration: Garden Fountains and their Beginnings

The primary purpose of a fountain was originally strictly practical. Inhabitants of urban areas, townships and small towns utilized them as a source of drinking water and a place to wash, which meant that fountains needed to be connected to nearby aqueduct or spring. Until the late nineteenth, century most water fountains operated using 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. Acting as an element of adornment and celebration, fountains also supplied clean, fresh drinking water. Animals or heroes made of bronze or stone masks were often used by Romans to decorate their fountains. During the Middle Ages, Muslim and Moorish garden designers included fountains in their designs to re-create the gardens of paradise. The fountains seen in the Gardens of Versailles were intended 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 arrival points of Roman aqueducts.

Urban fountains created at the end of the 19th century functioned only as decorative and celebratory ornaments since indoor plumbing provided the necessary drinking water. The creation of special water effects and the recycling of water were 2 things made possible by replacing gravity with mechanical pumps.

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

Find Peace with Garden Water Features