Early Water Supply Solutions in Rome
Early Water Supply Solutions in Rome Aqua Anio Vetus, the first raised aqueduct founded in Rome, started out providing the men and women living in the hills with water in 273 BC, though they had depended on natural springs up until then. Outside of these aqueducts and springs, wells and rainwater-collecting cisterns were the only techniques available at the time to supply water to spots of greater elevation. To deliver water to Pincian Hill in the early sixteenth century, they applied the new approach of redirecting the motion from the Acqua Vergine aqueduct’s underground network.
Pozzi, or manholes, were built at regular stretches along the aqueduct’s channel. The manholes made it easier to clean the channel, but it was also achievable to use buckets to extract water from the aqueduct, as we observed with Cardinal Marcello Crescenzi when he owned the property from 1543 to 1552, the year he passed away. He didn’t get a sufficient quantity of water from the cistern that he had constructed on his property to collect rainwater. To give himself with a much more practical means to assemble water, he had one of the manholes exposed, giving him access to the aqueduct below his property.
Contemporary Garden Decoration: Garden Fountains and their Roots
Contemporary Garden Decoration: Garden Fountains and their Roots
A water fountain is an architectural piece that pours water into a basin or jets it high into the air in order to provide drinking water, as well as for decorative purposes. Pure functionality was the original role of fountains. Inhabitants of cities, townships and small towns utilized them as a source of drinking water and a place to wash, which meant that fountains had to be connected to nearby aqueduct or spring. 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. Artists thought of fountains as wonderful additions to a living space, however, the fountains also served to supply clean water and celebrate the designer responsible for creating it. The main components used by the Romans to create their fountains were bronze or stone masks, mostly illustrating animals or heroes. To replicate the gardens of paradise, Muslim and Moorish garden planners of the Middle Ages added fountains to their designs. The fountains found in the Gardens of Versailles were intended 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 glorify the Popes who commissioned them as well as to mark the spot where the restored Roman aqueducts entered 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 replacing gravity with mechanical pumps.
Modern-day fountains function mostly as decoration for community spaces, to honor individuals or events, and compliment entertainment and recreational events.