Find Peace with Outdoor Fountains

Gian Bernini's Garden Fountains
Gian Bernini's Garden Fountains
Where did Large Outdoor Fountains Come From?

From the onset, outdoor fountains were simply there 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 area. Up to the late nineteenth century, water fountains had to be near an aqueduct or reservoir and higher than the fountain so that gravity could make the water move down or jet high into the air. Designers thought of fountains as amazing additions to a living space, however, the fountains also served to supply clean water and celebrate the designer responsible for creating it. Roman fountains usually depicted imagery of animals or heroes made of bronze or stone masks. During the Middle Ages, Muslim and Moorish garden planners included fountains to create smaller depictions 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. 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 location where the restored Roman aqueducts entered the city.
Urban fountains created at the end of the nineteenth functioned only as decorative and celebratory ornaments since indoor plumbing provided the necessary drinking water. Gravity was substituted by mechanical pumps in order to enable fountains to bring in clean water and allow for amazing water displays.
Modern-day fountains serve mostly as decoration for community spaces, to honor individuals or events, and compliment entertainment and recreational events.