Bernini: The Master of Italy's Most Impressive Water Fountains
Bernini: The Master of Italy's Most Impressive Water Fountains The Barcaccia, Bernini's first water fountain, is a striking chef d'oeuvre built at the base of the Trinita dei Monti in Piaza di Spagna. To this day, you will find Roman locals and vacation goers filling this space 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 undoubtedly have brought a smile to the great Bernini. The master's first water fountain of his professional life was built at around 1630 at the behest of Pope Urbano VIII. Depicted in the fountain's design is a great vessel slowly sinking into the Mediterranean Sea.
The great 16th century flood of the Tevere, which left the entire region inundated with water, was memorialized by the fountain according to documents from the period. In what became his only extended absence from Italy, Bernini {journeyed | traveled] to France in 1665.
Where did Large Garden Fountains Originate from?
Where did Large Garden Fountains Originate from? A water fountain is an architectural piece that pours water into a basin or jets it high into the air in order to supply drinkable water, as well as for decorative purposes.From the onset, outdoor fountains were soley meant to serve as functional elements. People in cities, towns and villages received their drinking water, as well as water to bathe and wash, from aqueducts or springs in the vicinity. Used until the nineteenth 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. Fountains were not only used as a water source for drinking water, but also to adorn homes and celebrate the designer who created it. Animals or heroes made of bronze or stone masks were often utilized by Romans to decorate their fountains. Muslims and Moorish landscaping designers of the Middle Ages included fountains to re-create smaller versions of the gardens of paradise. To demonstrate his prominence over nature, French King Louis XIV included fountains in the Garden of Versailles. Seventeen and 18 century Popes sought to laud their positions by adding decorative baroque-style fountains at the point where restored Roman aqueducts arrived into the city.
The end of the 19th century saw the increase in usage of indoor plumbing to provide drinking water, so urban fountains were relegated to purely decorative elements. The introduction of unique water effects and the recycling of water were two things made possible by swapping gravity with mechanical pumps.
Nowadays, fountains adorn public spaces and are used to honor individuals or events and fill recreational and entertainment needs.