Where did Large Outdoor Fountains Begin?
Where did Large Outdoor Fountains Begin? A fountain, an incredible piece of engineering, not only supplies drinking water as it pours into a basin, it can also launch water high into the air for an extraordinary effect.
Pure practicality was the original role of fountains. 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 19th, 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 an optimal source of water, and also served to adorn living areas and memorialize the artist. Bronze or stone masks of wildlife and heroes were commonly seen on Roman fountains. Throughout the Middle Ages, Muslim and Moorish garden planners incorporated fountains to create mini variations of the gardens of paradise. The fountains found 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 manufactured baroque decorative fountains to glorify the Popes who commissioned them as well as to mark the spot 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. Impressive water effects and recycled water were made possible by switching the force of gravity with mechanical pumps.
Modern fountains are used to adorn community spaces, honor individuals or events, and enrich recreational and entertainment events.
The Source of Modern Garden Fountains
The Source of Modern Garden Fountains
Hundreds of ancient Greek records were translated into Latin under the authority of the scholarly Pope Nicholas V, who led the Roman Catholic Church from 1397 to 1455. In order to make Rome worthy of being the capital of the Christian world, the Pope decided to enhance the beauty of the city. Beginning in 1453, the ruined ancient Roman aqueduct known as the Aqua Vergine which had brought fresh drinking water into the city from eight miles away, underwent restoration at the behest of the Pope. The historical Roman tradition of marking the arrival point of an aqueduct with an magnificent celebratory fountain, also known as a mostra, was restored by Nicholas V. The present-day site of the Trevi Fountain was once occupied by a wall fountain commissioned by the Pope and built by the architect Leon Battista Alberti. The water which eventually supplied the Trevi Fountain as well as the famed baroque fountains in the Piazza del Popolo and Piazza Navona flowed from the modified aqueduct which he had renovated.