Contemporary Garden Decoration: Outdoor Fountains and their Roots
Contemporary Garden Decoration: Outdoor Fountains and their Roots A fountain, an incredible piece of engineering, not only supplies drinking water as it pours into a basin, it can also propel water high into the air for a noteworthy effect.The primary purpose of a fountain was originally strictly functional. Water fountains were connected to a spring or aqueduct to provide drinkable water as well as bathing water for cities, townships and villages. Until the late nineteenth, century most water fountains functioned using the force of 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. Designers thought of fountains as wonderful additions to a living space, however, the fountains also served to supply clean water and honor the designer responsible for creating it. Bronze or stone masks of animals and heroes were frequently seen on Roman fountains.
During the Middle Ages, Muslim and Moorish garden designers included fountains in their designs to mimic the gardens of paradise. Fountains played a significant role in the Gardens of Versailles, all part of French King Louis XIV’s desire to exercise his power over nature. Seventeen and 18 century Popes sought to laud their positions by including decorative baroque-style fountains at the point where restored Roman aqueducts arrived into the city.
Urban fountains created at the end of the nineteenth served only as decorative and celebratory ornaments since indoor plumbing provided the necessary drinking water. Fountains using mechanical pumps instead of gravity enabled fountains to bring recycled water into living spaces as well as create unique water effects.
Beautifying city parks, honoring people or events and entertaining, are some of the functions of modern-day fountains.
The Defining Characteristics of Classic Greek Statues
The Defining Characteristics of Classic Greek Statues The primitive Greeks manufactured the first freestanding statuary, an impressive achievement as most sculptures up until then had been reliefs cut into walls and pillars. Youthful, appealing male or female (kore) Greeks were the subject matter of most of the statues, or kouros figures. Symbolizing beauty to the Greeks, the kouroi were crafted to appear rigid and typically had foot in front; the males were healthy, sturdy, and nude. The kouroi started to be life-sized beginning in 650 BC.
The Archaic period was turbulent for the Greeks as they evolved into more polished forms of government and art, and gained more information and facts about the peoples and civilizations outside of Greece. Still, these battles did little to hamper the progress of the Greek civilization.
The Impact of the Norman Conquest on Anglo-Saxon Landscaping
The Impact of the Norman Conquest on Anglo-Saxon Landscaping
Anglo-Saxons encountered extraordinary changes to their daily 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. Nonetheless the Normans had to pacify the entire territory before they could focus on home life, domestic architecture, and decoration. Most often built upon windy summits, castles were fundamental constructs that permitted their occupants to devote time and space to offensive and defensive strategies, while monasteries were rambling stone buildings commonly placed in only the most fecund, extensive valleys. Peaceful pastimes such as gardening were out of place in these destitute citadels. The finest specimen of the early Anglo-Norman style of architecture existent today is Berkeley Castle. The keep is said to date from William the Conqueror's time. An enormous terrace encompasses the building, serving as an obstacle to attackers trying to excavate under the castle walls. A scenic bowling green, enveloped in grass and bordered by battlements clipped out of an ancient yew hedge, makes one of the terraces.