The Countless Construction Materials of Fountains
The Countless Construction Materials of Fountains While today’s garden fountains are made in a variety of materials, the majority are made from metal. Metallic fountains, with their clean lines and sculptural accents, come in in a range of metals and can accommodate any style or budget. If you have a contemporary look and feel to your interior design, your yard and garden should mirror that same style. Today, many people favor copper for their sculptural garden fountains. Copper fountains are the best choice because they are perfect for the inside and outside. If you choose to go with copper, your fountain can be any style from fun and whimsical to cutting-edge.
Also popular, brass fountains generally have a more old-fashioned style to them versus their copper counterpart. Although it is not the most modern, the creatures and sculptural features you find on fountains are commonly made of brass, thus making them very popular.
Most folks today see stainless steel as the most modern option. If you choose a cutting-edge steel design, both the value and tranquility of your garden will get a nice lift. Like all water fountains, you can find them in just about any size you choose.
Fiberglass is a popular material for fountains because you can get the look and feel of metal at a much lower price, and it is lighter and easier to move than metal. The cleaning of fiberglass water fountains is quite simple, so they have many advantages that people appreciate.
Where did Large Outdoor Fountains Begin?
Where did Large Outdoor Fountains Begin? 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.From the beginning, outdoor fountains were soley there to serve as functional elements. Residents of cities, townships and small towns utilized them as a source of drinking water and a place to wash up, which meant that fountains needed to be connected to nearby aqueduct or spring. Used until the 19th century, in order for fountains to flow or shoot up into the air, their origin of water such as reservoirs or aqueducts, had to be higher than the water fountain in order to benefit from the power of gravity.
Fountains were not only utilized as a water source for drinking water, but also to adorn homes and celebrate the artist who created it. The main components used by the Romans to create their fountains were bronze or stone masks, mostly depicting animals or heroes. Muslims and Moorish garden designers of the Middle Ages included fountains to re-create smaller models of the gardens of paradise. The fountains seen 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 exalt the Popes who commissioned them as well as to mark the location where the restored Roman aqueducts entered the city.
Indoor plumbing became the main source of water by the end of the 19th century thereby restricting urban fountains to mere decorative elements. Gravity was substituted by mechanical pumps in order to enable fountains to bring in clean water and allow for amazing water displays.
Embellishing city parks, honoring people or events and entertaining, are some of the uses of modern-day fountains.
Back Story of Garden Water Fountains
Back Story of Garden Water Fountains The translation of hundreds of classical Greek texts into Latin was commissioned by the scholarly Pope Nicholas V who ruled the Church in Rome from 1397 till 1455. In order to make Rome deserving of being the capital of the Christian world, the Pope decided to embellish the beauty of the city. Beginning in 1453, the ruined ancient Roman aqueduct known as the Aqua Vergine which had brought clean drinking water into the city from eight miles away, underwent restoration at the behest of the Pope. The ancient Roman tradition of building an awe-inspiring commemorative fountain at the point where an aqueduct arrived, also known as a mostra, was resurrected by Nicholas V. At the behest of the Pope, architect Leon Battista Alberti began the construction of a wall fountain in the spot where we now find the Trevi Fountain. The aqueduct he had reconditioned included modifications and extensions which eventually enabled it to supply water to the Trevi Fountain as well as the famed baroque fountains in the Piazza del Popolo and the Piazza Navona.