Water Fountain Engineers Through History

Water Fountain Engineers Through History Often serving as architects, sculptors, artists, engineers and highly educated scholars all in one, from the 16th to the late 18th century, fountain designers were multi-faceted individuals, Leonardo da Vinci, a Renaissance artist, was notable as a imaginative intellect, inventor and scientific master. He methodically recorded his observations in his now celebrated notebooks about his studies into the forces of nature and the properties and movement of water. Innovative water displays packed with symbolic significance and all-natural charm transformed private villa settings when early Italian water fountain creators combined creativity with hydraulic and landscaping skill. Known for his virtuosity in archeology, design and garden creations, Pirro Ligorio, the humanist, delivered the vision behind the magnificence in Tivoli. Masterminding the phenomenal water marbles, water features and water jokes for the numerous mansions near Florence, some other water feature builders were well versed in humanistic subjects as well as time-honored technical texts.

Early Water Supply Solutions in Rome

Early Water Supply Solutions in Rome Early Water Supply Solutions Rome 0652176056.jpg

Prior to 273, when the 1st elevated aqueduct, Aqua Anio Vetus, was made in Rome, inhabitants who dwelled on hills had to journey further down to gather their water from natural sources. When aqueducts or springs weren’t easily accessible, people living at higher elevations turned to water drawn from underground or rainwater, which was made possible by wells and cisterns. To provide water to Pincian Hill in the early 16th century, they implemented the brand-new approach of redirecting the movement from the Acqua Vergine aqueduct’s underground network. Throughout the time of its initial building and construction, pozzi (or manholes) were located at set intervals alongside the aqueduct’s channel. While these manholes were created to make it less difficult to preserve the aqueduct, it was also feasible to use buckets to extract water from the channel, which was utilized by Cardinal Marcello Crescenzi from the time he bought the property in 1543 to his death in 1552. He didn’t get sufficient water from the cistern that he had established on his residential property to obtain rainwater. To give himself with a much more effective system to assemble water, he had one of the manholes exposed, offering him access to the aqueduct below his residence.

The First Contemporary Outdoor Wall Fountains

The First Contemporary Outdoor Wall Fountains Pope Nicholas V, himself a learned man, reigned the Roman Catholic Church from 1397 to 1455 during which time he commissioned many translations of old classical Greek texts into Latin. He undertook the beautification of Rome to turn it into the model seat of the Christian world. Reconstruction of the Acqua Vergine, a desolate Roman aqueduct which had carried clean drinking water into the city from eight miles away, began in 1453 at the bidding of the Pope. Building a mostra, a grandiose celebratory fountain built by ancient Romans to memorialize the arrival point of an aqueduct, was a custom revived by Nicholas V. First Contemporary Outdoor Wall Fountains 90306980934.jpg

First Contemporary Outdoor Wall Fountains 90306980934.jpg

The Trevi Fountain now occupies the space previously filled with a wall fountain built by Leon Battista Albert, an architect employed by the Pope. Adjustments and extensions, included in the restored aqueduct, eventually provided the Trevi Fountain and the well-known baroque fountains in the Piazza del Popolo and Piazza Navona with the necessary water supply.

Bernini's Earliest Showpieces

Bernini's Earliest Showpieces The Barcaccia, Bernini's very first water fountain, is a magnificent chef d'oeuvre built at the bottom of the Trinita dei Monti in Piaza di Spagna. To this day, you will find Roman locals and vacation goers filling this area to revel in chit chatter and being among other people. One of the city’s most fashionable gathering spots are the streets surrounding Bernini's fountain, which would certainly have brought a smile to the great Bernini. In about 1630, the great master built the very 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. According to 16th century documents, a great flood of the Tevere covered the entire area in water, an event which was commemorated by the eye-catching fountain. Absenting himself from Italy only once in his life for a long-lasting time period, in 1665 Bernini voyaged to France.