The Source of Modern Wall Fountains
The Source of Modern Wall Fountains
Pope Nicholas V, himself a well educated man, governed the Roman Catholic Church from 1397 to 1455 during which time he commissioned many translations of ancient classical Greek documents into Latin. In order to make Rome deserving of being the capital of the Christian world, the Pope decided to embellish the beauty of the city. At the bidding of the Pope, the Aqua Vergine, a ruined aqueduct which had carried clean drinking water into Rome from eight miles away, was restored starting in 1453. The ancient Roman tradition of marking the entry point of an aqueduct with an magnificent celebratory fountain, also known as a mostra, was restored by Nicholas V. The architect Leon Battista Alberti was commissioned by the Pope to put up a wall fountain where we now find the Trevi Fountain. The Trevi Fountain as well as the well-known baroque fountains located in the Piazza del Popolo and the Piazza Navona were eventually supplied with water from the modified aqueduct he had rebuilt.
Water Delivery Solutions in Early Rome
Water Delivery Solutions in Early Rome Aqua Anio Vetus, the first raised aqueduct founded in Rome, started supplying the men and women living in the hills with water in 273 BC, even though they had depended on natural springs up till then.
When aqueducts or springs weren’t easily accessible, people living at raised elevations turned to water removed from underground or rainwater, which was made possible by wells and cisterns. From the beginning of the sixteenth century, water was routed to Pincian Hill by using the subterranean channel of Acqua Vergine. Spanning the length of the aqueduct’s channel were pozzi, or manholes, that gave access. The manholes made it easier to clean the channel, but it was also possible to use buckets to extract water from the aqueduct, as we discovered with Cardinal Marcello Crescenzi when he operated the property from 1543 to 1552, the year he passed away. It seems that, the rainwater cistern on his property wasn’t good enough to satisfy his needs. That is when he made a decision to create an access point to the aqueduct that ran directly below his property.
Pope Nicholas V, himself a learned man, governed the Roman Catholic Church from 1397 to 1455 during which time he commissioned many translations of old classical Greek documents into Latin....
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The circulated papers and illustrated pamphlets of the day contributed to the evolution of scientific innovation, and were the primary means of dissiminating practical hydraulic concepts and water fountain ideas all through Europe....
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Archaeological digs in Minoan Crete in Greece have discovered several kinds of channels.In conjunction with offering water, they spread out water that amassed from storms or waste....
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Towns and communities depended on practical water fountains to funnel water for cooking, bathing, and cleaning from local sources like ponds, streams, or springs....
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