The Minoan Society: Fountains
The Minoan Society: Fountains Fountains and Water and the Minoan Civilization
The Origins Of Outdoor Fountains
The Origins Of Outdoor Fountains 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 complement your home.Originally, fountains only served a practical purpose. Residents of cities, townships and small towns used them as a source of drinking water and a place to wash, which meant that fountains had to be linked to nearby aqueduct or spring. Up until the 19th century, fountains had to be more elevated and closer to a water source, such as aqueducts and reservoirs, in order to take advantage of gravity which fed the fountains. Fountains were an excellent source of water, and also served to decorate living areas and celebrate the artist. Animals or heroes made of bronze or stone masks were often times utilized by Romans to decorate their fountains. Muslims and Moorish landscaping designers of the Middle Ages included fountains to re-create smaller versions of the gardens of paradise. King Louis XIV of France wanted to demonstrate his dominion over nature by including fountains in the Gardens of Versailles. The Romans of the 17th and 18th centuries manufactured baroque decorative fountains to exalt 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 19th century functioned only as decorative and celebratory adornments since indoor plumbing provided the necessary drinking water. Fountains using mechanical pumps instead of gravity enabled 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.