The Influence of the Norman Conquest on Anglo Saxon Garden Design
The Influence of the Norman Conquest on Anglo Saxon Garden Design Anglo-Saxons felt great modifications to their day-to-day lives in the latter half of the eleventh century due to the accession of the Normans. At the time of the conquest, the Normans surpassed the Anglo-Saxons in building design and cultivation. But yet there was no time for home life, domesticated design, and adornment until the Normans had conquered the whole region. Monasteries and castles served separate purposes, so while monasteries were massive stone structures built in only the most productive, wide dales, castles were set upon blustery knolls where the occupants focused on understanding offensive and defensive practices. Peaceful pastimes such as gardening were out of place in these destitute citadels. The early Anglo-Norman style of architecture is portrayed in Berkeley Castle, which is perhaps the most unscathed sample we have. The keep is thought to date from the time of William the Conqueror. A massive terrace serves as a discouraging factor to invaders who would attempt to mine the walls of the building.
One of these terraces, a charming bowling green, is covered grass and flanked by an old yew hedge cut into the shape of crude battlements.
The Genesis Of Outdoor Fountains
The Genesis Of Outdoor Fountains The incredible architecture 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. The central purpose of a fountain was originally strictly practical. People in cities, towns and villages received their drinking water, as well as water to bathe and wash, from aqueducts or springs in the area. Until the late nineteenth, century most water fountains operated using gravity to allow water to flow or jet into the air, therefore, they needed a source of water such as a reservoir or aqueduct located higher than the fountain. Fountains were not only utilized as a water source for drinking water, but also to adorn homes and celebrate the artist who created it. Animals or heroes made of bronze or stone masks were often used by Romans to beautify their fountains. During the Middle Ages, Muslim and Moorish garden designers included fountains in their designs to re-create the gardens of paradise. To demonstrate his dominance over nature, French King Louis XIV included fountains in the Garden of Versailles. To mark the entryway of the restored Roman aqueducts, the Popes of the 17th and 18th centuries commissioned the building of baroque style fountains in the spot where the aqueducts entered the city of Rome
The end of the 19th century saw the increase in usage of indoor plumbing to provide drinking water, so urban fountains were relegated to purely decorative elements. Impressive water effects and recycled water were made possible by replacing the power of gravity with mechanical pumps.
Nowadays, fountains adorn public areas and are used to recognize individuals or events and fill recreational and entertainment needs.
Characteristics of Garden Statues in Archaic Greece
Characteristics of Garden Statues in Archaic Greece The Archaic Greeks manufactured the very first freestanding statuary, an impressive achievement as most sculptures up until then had been reliefs cut into walls and pillars. Most of these freestanding sculptures were what is known as kouros figures, statues of young, attractive male or female (kore) Greeks.
The kouroi, viewed as by the Greeks to exemplify beauty, had one foot stretched out of a rigid forward-facing posture and the male statues were always nude, with a powerful, strong build. In around 650 BC, the variations of the kouroi became life-sized. A massive period of improvement for the Greeks, the Archaic period brought about newer forms of government, expressions of art, and a greater appreciation of people and customs outside of Greece. During this time and other durations of historic tumultuousness, clashes often occurred, including wars fought amongst city-states such as the Arcadian wars and the Spartan invasion of Samos.