Contemporary Garden Decoration: Outdoor Fountains and their Beginnings
Contemporary Garden Decoration: Outdoor Fountains and their Beginnings A water fountain is an architectural piece that pours water into a basin or jets it high into the air in order to provide drinkable water, as well as for decorative purposes. The central purpose of a fountain was originally strictly functional. Water fountains were linked to a spring or aqueduct to supply potable water as well as bathing water for cities, townships and villages. Used until the 19th century, in order for fountains to flow or shoot up into the air, their origin of water such as reservoirs or aqueducts, had to be higher than the water fountain in order to benefit from gravity. Artists thought of fountains as wonderful additions to a living space, however, the fountains also served to supply clean water and celebrate the artist responsible for building it. Animals or heroes made of bronze or stone masks were often times utilized by Romans to decorate their fountains. To illustrate the gardens of paradise, Muslim and Moorish garden planners of the Middle Ages introduced fountains to their designs. To show his dominance over nature, French King Louis XIV included fountains in the Garden of Versailles. The Romans of the 17th and 18th centuries manufactured baroque decorative fountains to exalt the Popes who commissioned them as well as to mark the location where the restored Roman aqueducts entered the city.
Urban fountains built at the end of the nineteenth served only as decorative and celebratory adornments since indoor plumbing provided the essential drinking water. Impressive water effects and recycled water were made possible by switching the power of gravity with mechanical pumps.
These days, fountains decorate public spaces and are used to honor individuals or events and fill recreational and entertainment needs.
Original Water Supply Solutions in The City Of Rome
Original Water Supply Solutions in The City Of Rome Aqua Anio Vetus, the first raised aqueduct assembled in Rome, started off delivering the men and women living in the hills with water in 273 BC, even though they had counted on natural springs up until then. When aqueducts or springs weren’t accessible, people dwelling at raised elevations turned to water drawn from underground or rainwater, which was made possible by wells and cisterns. In the very early sixteenth century, the city began to use the water that ran underground through Acqua Vergine to deliver water to Pincian Hill. During the length of the aqueduct’s network were pozzi, or manholes, that gave entry. Whilst these manholes were developed to make it less difficult to maintain the aqueduct, it was also feasible to use containers to pull water from the channel, which was exercised by Cardinal Marcello Crescenzi from the time he bought the property in 1543 to his passing in 1552. It seems that, the rainwater cistern on his property wasn’t good enough to satisfy his needs.
By using an opening to the aqueduct that flowed underneath his property, he was set to meet his water wants.