Discover Serenity with Outdoor Water Features
Discover Serenity with Outdoor Water Features
Modern Garden Decor: Fountains and their Roots

Originally, fountains only served a functional purpose. Cities, towns and villages made use of nearby aqueducts or springs to provide them with drinking water as well as water where they could bathe or wash. Up to the late nineteenth century, water fountains had to be near an aqueduct or reservoir and more elevated than the fountain so that gravity could make the water move downwards or jet high into the air. Fountains were not only utilized 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 meant to show the power over nature held by King Louis XIV of France. The Romans of the 17th and 18th centuries created 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.
Indoor plumbing became the main source of water by the end of the 19th century thereby limiting urban fountains to mere decorative elements. Amazing water effects and recycled water were made possible by replacing the force of gravity with mechanical pumps.
Contemporary fountains are used to embellish public spaces, honor individuals or events, and enrich recreational and entertainment events.