Contemporary Garden Decoration: Garden Fountains and their Roots
Contemporary Garden Decoration: Garden Fountains and their Roots The incredible construction of a fountain allows it to provide clean water or shoot water high into air for dramatic effect and it can also serve as an excellent design feature to complete your home.
From the onset, outdoor fountains were simply meant to serve as functional elements. Cities, towns and villages made use of nearby aqueducts or springs to supply them with potable water as well as water where they could bathe or wash. Until the late nineteenth, century most water fountains functioned using gravity to allow water to flow or jet into the air, therefore, they needed a supply of water such as a reservoir or aqueduct located higher than the fountain. Fountains were not only used as a water source for drinking water, but also to decorate homes and celebrate the artist who created it. The main components used by the Romans to build their fountains were bronze or stone masks, mostly illustrating animals or heroes. During the Middle Ages, Muslim and Moorish garden designers included fountains in their designs to mimic the gardens of paradise. The fountains seen in the Gardens of Versailles were intended 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
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 deliver recycled water into living spaces as well as create unique water effects.
Embellishing city parks, honoring people or events and entertaining, are some of the uses of modern-day fountains.
Water Features: The Minoan Culture
