At What Point Did Water Fountains Emerge?

At What Point Did Water Fountains Emerge? Point Water Fountains Emerge? 091729366830.jpg

The translation of hundreds of ancient Greek documents into Latin was commissioned by the scholarly Pope Nicholas V who ruled the Church in Rome from 1397 until 1455. Beautifying Rome and making it the worthy capital of the Christian world was at the center of his ambitions. Restoration of the Acqua Vergine, a desolate Roman aqueduct which had transported fresh drinking water into the city from eight miles away, began in 1453 at the bidding of the Pope. A mostra, a monumental dedicatory fountain constructed by ancient Romans to mark the point of entry of an aqueduct, was a custom which was restored by Nicholas V. The present-day location of the Trevi Fountain was previously occupied by a wall fountain commissioned by the Pope and built by the architect Leon Battista Alberti. The Trevi Fountain as well as the renowned baroque fountains located in the Piazza del Popolo and the Piazza Navona were eventually supplied with water from the altered aqueduct he had reconstructed.

Bernini's Early Masterpieces

Bernini's Early Masterpieces The Barcaccia, a stunning fountain constructed at the base of the Trinita dei Monti in Piaza di Spagna, was Bernini's earliest water fountain. This area continues to be filled with Roman locals and tourists who enjoy exchanging gossip or going over the day's news. Today, the city streets surrounding Bernini's water fountain are a trendy area where people go to gather, something which the artist would have been pleased to learn. In about 1630, the great artist built the first water fountain of his career at the behest of Pope Ubano VIII. People can now see the fountain as an illustration of a great ship slowly sinking into the Mediterranean Sea. The great flooding of the Tevere that covered the whole region with water in the 16th was memorialized by this momentous fountain as recorded by documents dating back to this time. In 1665 Bernini traveled to France, in what was to be his sole extended absence from Italy.