The Origins Of Garden Fountains
The Origins Of Garden Fountains A fountain, an incredible piece of engineering, not only supplies drinking water as it pours into a basin, it can also launch water high into the air for an extraordinary effect.From the beginning, outdoor fountains were soley meant to serve as functional elements. 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.
Used until the nineteenth century, in order for fountains to flow or shoot up into the air, their source 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. The main components used by the Romans to create their fountains were bronze or stone masks, mostly depicting animals or heroes. Muslims and Moorish garden designers of the Middle Ages included fountains to re-create smaller models of the gardens of paradise. The fountains seen in the Gardens of Versailles were meant to show the power over nature held by King Louis XIV of France. To mark the entrance of the restored Roman aqueducts, the Popes of the 17th and 18th centuries commissioned the construction of baroque style fountains in the spot where the aqueducts entered the city of Rome
Since indoor plumbing became the norm of the day for fresh, drinking water, by the end of the 19th century urban fountains were no longer needed for this purpose and they became purely decorative. Gravity was substituted by mechanical pumps in order to permit fountains to bring in clean water and allow for beautiful water displays.
Modern-day fountains serve mostly as decoration for community spaces, to honor individuals or events, and compliment entertainment and recreational activities.
The Circulation of Water Fountain Industrial Knowledge in Europe
The Circulation of Water Fountain Industrial Knowledge in Europe Throughout Europe, the chief means of dissiminating practical hydraulic facts and fountain design suggestions were the published papers and illustrated publications of the day, which added to the advancement of scientific technology. In the late 1500's, a French fountain developer (whose name has been lost) was the globally recognized hydraulics innovator. His know-how in designing gardens and grottoes with built-in and imaginative water attributes began in Italy and with commissions in Brussels, London and Germany. “The Principles of Moving Forces”, a book that became the fundamental book on hydraulic mechanics and engineering, was authored by him towards the end of his lifetime in France. The book modified key hydraulic breakthroughs since classical antiquity as well as describing modern day hydraulic technologies. Prominent among these works were those of Archimedes, the developer of the water screw, a mechanical method of moving water. An decorative water fountain with the sun heating up the liquid in two containers stashed in an adjacent accommodation was displayed in one illustration. The hot water expands and subsequently ascends and closes the water pipes consequently activating the fountain. Models for pumps, water wheels, water features and outdoor ponds are also included in the guide.The Source of Modern Day Garden Water Fountains
The Source of Modern Day Garden Water Fountains
Himself a highly educated man, Pope Nicholas V led the Roman Catholic Church from 1397 till 1455 and was responsible for the translation of scores of age-old documents from their original Greek into Latin. Beautifying Rome and making it the worthy capital of the Christian world was at the core of his objectives. Starting in 1453, the ruined ancient Roman aqueduct known as the Aqua Vergine which had brought fresh drinking water into the city from eight miles away, underwent repair at the behest of the Pope. Building a mostra, an imposing commemorative fountain built by ancient Romans to memorialize the arrival point of an aqueduct, was a custom revived by Nicholas V. At the bidding of the Pope, architect Leon Battista Alberti undertook the construction of a wall fountain in the spot where we now find the Trevi Fountain. Adjustments and extensions, included in the repaired aqueduct, eventually provided the Trevi Fountain and the well-known baroque fountains in the Piazza del Popolo and Piazza Navona with the necessary water supply.