The Root of Modern Wall Fountains
The Root of Modern Wall Fountains The translation of hundreds of classic Greek documents into Latin was commissioned by the learned Pope Nicholas V who ruled the Church in Rome from 1397 until 1455. It was important for him to embellish the city of Rome to make it worthy of being called the capital of the Christian world. Starting in 1453, the ruined ancient Roman aqueduct known as the Aqua Vergine which had brought clean drinking water into the city from eight miles away, underwent restoration at the bidding of the Pope. Building a mostra, a grandiose commemorative fountain built by ancient Romans to memorialize the arrival point of an aqueduct, was a custom revived by Nicholas V. The architect Leon Battista Alberti was commissioned by the Pope to build a wall fountain where we now find the Trevi Fountain.
Modifications and extensions, included in the repaired aqueduct, eventually supplied the Trevi Fountain and the well-known baroque fountains in the Piazza del Popolo and Piazza Navona with the necessary water supply.
The Influence of the Norman Conquest on Anglo-Saxon Garden Design
The Influence of the Norman Conquest on Anglo-Saxon Garden Design The advent of the Normans in the second half of the eleventh century substantially altered The Anglo-Saxon ways of living. At the time of the conquest, the Normans surpassed the Anglo-Saxons in building design and cultivation. But before concentrating on home-life or having the occasion to consider domestic architecture or decoration, the Normans had to subjugate an entire population. Most often constructed upon windy peaks, castles were basic constructs that enabled their occupants to devote time and space to offensive and defensive schemes, while monasteries were rambling stone buildings frequently installed in only the most fecund, extensive valleys. The calm method of gardening was unlikely in these dismal bastions. The purest example of the early Anglo-Norman style of architecture existent presently is Berkeley Castle. The keep is rumored to have been created during the time of William the Conqueror. A monumental terrace serves as a discouraging factor to invaders who would attempt to mine the walls of the building. One of these terraces, a charming bowling green, is covered grass and flanked by an old yew hedge trimmed into the form of crude battlements.
The Origins Of Outdoor Fountains
The Origins Of Outdoor Fountains The dramatic or ornamental effect of a fountain is just one of the purposes it fulfills, in addition to supplying drinking water and adding a decorative touch to your property.The central purpose of a fountain was originally strictly functional. People in cities, towns and villages received their drinking water, as well as water to bathe and wash, from aqueducts or springs nearby. Up until the nineteenth, fountains had to be higher and closer to a water supply, including aqueducts and reservoirs, in order to take advantage of gravity which fed the fountains. Fountains were not only used as a water source for drinking water, but also to decorate homes and celebrate the designer who created it. Roman fountains usually depicted imagery of animals or heroes made of metal or stone masks. During the Middle Ages, Muslim and Moorish garden designers included fountains in their designs to mimic the gardens of paradise.
The fountains found in the Gardens of Versailles were supposed to show the power over nature held by King Louis XIV of France. To mark the entrance of the restored Roman aqueducts, the Popes of the 17th and 18th centuries commissioned the building of baroque style fountains in the spot where the aqueducts arrived in the city of Rome
Indoor plumbing became the key source of water by the end of the 19th century thereby restricting urban fountains to mere decorative elements. Gravity was replaced by mechanical pumps in order to enable fountains to bring in clean water and allow for amazing water displays.
Embellishing city parks, honoring people or events and entertaining, are some of the functions of modern-day fountains.