The Genesis Of Fountains
The Genesis Of Fountains The dramatic or decorative effect of a fountain is just one of the purposes it fulfills, as well as delivering drinking water and adding a decorative touch to your property.The central purpose of a fountain was originally strictly functional. Residents of urban areas, townships and small towns used them as a source of drinking water and a place to wash, which meant that fountains had to be linked to nearby aqueduct or spring. Up until the nineteenth, fountains had to be more elevated and closer to a water source, including aqueducts and reservoirs, in order to take advantage of gravity which fed the fountains. Fountains were an optimal source of water, and also served to adorn living areas and memorialize the designer. Roman fountains often depicted images of animals or heroes made of bronze or stone masks. Muslims and Moorish landscaping designers of the Middle Ages included fountains to re-create smaller models of the gardens of paradise. King Louis XIV of France wanted to illustrate his dominion over nature by including fountains in the Gardens of Versailles. The Romans of the 17th and 18th centuries created baroque decorative fountains to exalt the Popes who commissioned them as well as to mark the spot where the restored Roman aqueducts entered the city.
Since indoor plumbing became the norm of the day for clean, 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 enabled fountains to deliver recycled water into living spaces as well as create special water effects.
Nowadays, fountains adorn public areas and are used to pay tribute to individuals or events and fill recreational and entertainment needs.
Water Transport Strategies in Ancient Rome
Water Transport Strategies in Ancient Rome Rome’s 1st elevated aqueduct, Aqua Anio Vetus, was built in 273 BC; before that, inhabitants living at higher elevations had to depend on local streams for their water. Over this time period, there were only 2 other techniques capable of offering water to higher areas, subterranean wells and cisterns, which accumulated rainwater. Starting in the sixteenth century, a brand new method was introduced, using Acqua Vergine’s subterranean portions to generate water to Pincian Hill. Pozzi, or manholes, were engineered at standard intervals along the aqueduct’s channel. During the some nine years he had the residence, from 1543 to 1552, Cardinal Marcello Crescenzi employed these manholes to take water from the channel in containers, though they were originally built for the objective of maintaining and maintaining the aqueduct. He didn’t get sufficient water from the cistern that he had built on his residential property to collect rainwater. By using an orifice to the aqueduct that ran below his property, he was in a position to suit his water demands.