The Early Civilization: Garden Fountains
The Early Civilization: Garden Fountains
Fountains and Water and the Minoan Civilization In conjunction with offering water, they spread out water that accumulated from deluges or waste material. Rock and clay were the elements of choice for these channels. Whenever prepared from terracotta, they were commonly in the format of canals and circular or rectangle-shaped pipes. There are two illustrations of Minoan terracotta pipes, those with a shortened cone shape and a U-shape which haven’t been observed in any civilization ever since. The water availability at Knossos Palace was managed with a system of terracotta piping which was located underneath the floor, at depths varying from a couple of centimeters to many meters. Along with dispersing water, the clay water pipes of the Minoans were also utilized to amass water and store it. These terracotta pipes were used to perform: Underground Water Transportation: Originally this process seems to have been created not quite for comfort but rather to supply water to specific individuals or rites without it being observed. Quality Water Transportation: Bearing in mind the indicators, a number of scholars propose that these pipelines were not connected to the common water allocation system, offering the castle with water from a different source.
Contemporary Garden Decoration: Outdoor Fountains and their Roots
Contemporary Garden Decoration: Outdoor 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.
Originally, fountains only served a functional purpose. People in cities, towns and villages received their drinking water, as well as water to bathe and wash, via aqueducts or springs in the area. Until the late nineteenth, century most water fountains operated using the force of gravity to allow water to flow or jet into the air, therefore, they needed a source of water such as a reservoir or aqueduct located higher than the fountain. Artists thought of fountains as amazing additions to a living space, however, the fountains also served to supply clean water and honor the artist responsible for building it. Bronze or stone masks of wildlife and heroes were frequently seen on Roman fountains. Throughout the Middle Ages, Muslim and Moorish garden planners incorporated fountains to create smaller variations of the gardens of paradise. King Louis XIV of France wanted to illustrate his superiority over nature by including fountains in the Gardens of Versailles. Seventeen and 18 century Popes sought to extol their positions by adding decorative baroque-style fountains at the point where restored Roman aqueducts arrived into 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. Fountains using mechanical pumps instead of gravity allowed fountains to bring recycled water into living spaces as well as create special water effects.
Modern fountains are used to embellish public spaces, honor individuals or events, and enhance recreational and entertainment events.
A Chronicle of Landscape Fountains
A Chronicle of Landscape Fountains
Pope Nicholas V, himself a well educated man, ruled the Roman Catholic Church from 1397 to 1455 during which time he commissioned many translations of old classic Greek documents into Latin. It was important for him to beautify the city of Rome to make it worthy of being called the capital of the Christian world. In 1453 the Pope commissioned the reconstruction of the Aqua Vergine, an historic Roman aqueduct which had carried fresh drinking water into the city from eight miles away. The ancient Roman custom of building an imposing commemorative fountain at the location where an aqueduct arrived, also known as a mostra, was restored by Nicholas V. The architect Leon Battista Alberti was commissioned by the Pope to build a wall fountain where we now find the Trevi Fountain. Changes and extensions, included in the restored aqueduct, eventually supplied the Trevi Fountain and the well-known baroque fountains in the Piazza del Popolo and Piazza Navona with the necessary water supply.