A Brief History of Early Outdoor Public Fountains

A Brief History of Early Outdoor Public Fountains As originally conceived, fountains were designed to be functional, directing water from streams or aqueducts to the inhabitants of towns and settlements, where the water could be used for cooking food, washing, and drinking. A supply of water higher in elevation than the fountain was required to pressurize the movement and send water spraying from the fountain's spout, a technology without equal until the later part of the 19th century. Brief History Early Outdoor Public Fountains 403239151912668034.jpg

Brief History Early Outdoor Public Fountains 403239151912668034.jpg

Fountains all through history have been crafted as memorials, impressing local citizens and travelers alike. Crude in design, the very first water fountains didn't appear much like modern fountains. Simple stone basins created from nearby material were the very first fountains, used for spiritual purposes and drinking water. The original stone basins are thought to be from about 2000 BC. The spraying of water emerging from small jets was pressured by gravity, the sole power source builders had in those days. Positioned near aqueducts or springs, the functional public water fountains provided the local residents with fresh drinking water. Fountains with flowery decoration started to show up in Rome in about 6 BC, usually gods and creatures, made with stone or copper-base alloy. The City of Rome had an intricate system of aqueducts that supplied the water for the numerous fountains that were situated throughout the city.

Original Water Supply Solutions in Rome

Original Water Supply Solutions Rome 913480029853801924.jpg

With the construction of the very first elevated aqueduct in Rome, the Aqua Anio Vetus in 273 BC, folks who lived on the city’s foothills no longer had to be dependent entirely on naturally-occurring spring water for their needs. If citizens residing at higher elevations did not have accessibility to springs or the aqueduct, they’d have to depend on the remaining existing techniques of the day, cisterns that accumulated rainwater from the sky and subterranean wells that received the water from under ground. To offer water to Pincian Hill in the early sixteenth century, they utilized the emerging technique of redirecting the circulation from the Acqua Vergine aqueduct’s underground channel. As originally constructed, the aqueduct was provided along the length of its channel with pozzi (manholes) constructed at regular intervals. Whilst these manholes were provided to make it easier to sustain the aqueduct, it was also feasible to use buckets to remove water from the channel, which was carried out by Cardinal Marcello Crescenzi from the time he obtained the property in 1543 to his passing in 1552. He didn’t get an adequate amount water from the cistern that he had established on his property to collect rainwater. Via an opening to the aqueduct that ran below his property, he was able to reach his water wants.