Where did Garden Water Fountains Begin?
Where did Garden Water Fountains Begin? 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.Pure practicality was the original role of fountains. 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.
Up until the 19th century, fountains had to be higher and closer to a water source, such as aqueducts and reservoirs, in order to take advantage of gravity which fed the fountains. Fountains were not only utilized as a water source for drinking water, but also to adorn homes and celebrate the designer who created it. Bronze or stone masks of wildlife and heroes were frequently seen on Roman fountains. To replicate the gardens of paradise, Muslim and Moorish garden planners of the Middle Ages added fountains to their designs. Fountains played a significant role in the Gardens of Versailles, all part of French King Louis XIV’s desire to exert his power over nature. The Popes of the 17th and 18th centuries were glorified with baroque style fountains constructed to mark the arrival points of Roman aqueducts.
The end of the nineteenth century saw the increase in usage of indoor plumbing to supply drinking water, so urban fountains were relegated to purely decorative elements. Fountains using mechanical pumps instead of gravity enabled fountains to deliver recycled water into living spaces as well as create unique water effects.
Beautifying city parks, honoring people or events and entertaining, are some of the functions of modern-day fountains.
From Where Did Water Fountains Emerge?
From Where Did Water Fountains Emerge? Himself a learned man, Pope Nicholas V headed the Roman Catholic Church from 1397 till 1455 and was responsible for the translation of hundreds of ancient texts from their original Greek into Latin. It was imperative for him to beautify the city of Rome to make it worthy of being known as the capital of the Christian world. Reconstruction of the Acqua Vergine, a ruined Roman aqueduct which had carried clean drinking water into the city from eight miles away, began in 1453 at the bidding of the Pope. A mostra, a monumental dedicatory fountain constructed by ancient Romans to mark the point of entry of an aqueduct, was a tradition which was restored by Nicholas V.
The Trevi Fountain now occupies the space formerly filled with a wall fountain crafted by Leon Battista Albert, an architect commissioned by the Pope. The aqueduct he had reconditioned included modifications and extensions which eventually enabled it to supply water to the Trevi Fountain as well as the famed baroque fountains in the Piazza del Popolo and the Piazza Navona.
The Fountains
The Fountains
The water from rivers and other sources was initially supplied to the citizens of nearby towns and municipalities via water fountains, whose purpose was largely practical, not aesthetic. To produce water flow through a fountain until the later part of the 1800’s, and produce a jet of water, mandated gravity and a water source such as a spring or reservoir, situated higher than the fountain. The appeal and spectacle of fountains make them ideal for traditional monuments. If you saw the first fountains, you would not recognize them as fountains. Created for drinking water and ceremonial reasons, the initial fountains were basic carved stone basins. The original stone basins are thought to be from about 2000 B.C.. The spray of water emerging from small spouts was pushed by gravity, the lone power source creators had in those days. Drinking water was supplied by public fountains, long before fountains became elaborate public statues, as beautiful as they are practical. Animals, Gods, and spectral figures dominated the early ornate Roman fountains, beginning to show up in about 6 B.C.. A well-engineered collection of reservoirs and aqueducts kept Rome's public fountains supplied with fresh water.