Where did Landscape Fountains Come From?
Where did Landscape Fountains Come From? The dramatic or ornamental effect of a fountain is just one of the purposes it fulfills, as well as delivering drinking water and adding a decorative touch to your property.From the onset, outdoor fountains were soley there to serve as functional elements. Inhabitants of urban areas, townships and small towns utilized them as a source of drinking water and a place to wash up, which meant that fountains had to be connected to nearby aqueduct or spring. Used until the nineteenth 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 an excellent source of water, and also served to decorate living areas and celebrate the designer.
The main materials used by the Romans to build their fountains were bronze or stone masks, mostly illustrating animals or heroes. During the Middle Ages, Muslim and Moorish garden designers included fountains in their designs to mimic the gardens of paradise. To demonstrate his dominance over nature, French King Louis XIV included fountains in the Garden of Versailles. The Popes of the 17th and 18th centuries were glorified with baroque style fountains constructed to mark the arrival points of Roman aqueducts.
The end of the 19th century saw the rise in usage of indoor plumbing to supply drinking water, so urban fountains were relegated to strictly decorative elements. Fountains using mechanical pumps instead of gravity enabled fountains to bring recycled water into living spaces as well as create unique water effects.
Modern fountains are used to adorn community spaces, honor individuals or events, and enhance recreational and entertainment events.
The History of Outdoor Water Fountains
The History of Outdoor Water Fountains Himself a learned man, Pope Nicholas V led the Roman Catholic Church from 1397 till 1455 and was responsible for the translation of scores of age-old texts from their original Greek into Latin. Beautifying Rome and making it the worthy capital of the Christian world was at the heart of his ambitions. Starting 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 bidding of the Pope. Building a mostra, an imposing commemorative fountain built by ancient Romans to memorialize the entry point of an aqueduct, was a custom revived 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 Trevi Fountain as well as the well-known baroque fountains found in the Piazza del Popolo and the Piazza Navona were eventually supplied with water from the modified aqueduct he had rebuilt.Inventors of the First Water Features
Inventors of the First Water Features Multi-talented people, fountain designers from the 16th to the late 18th century often served as architects, sculptors, artists, engineers and highly educated scholars all in one person. Leonardo da Vinci as a innovative intellect, inventor and scientific expert exemplified this Renaissance artist.
He carefully noted his ideas in his currently recognized notebooks, following his immense fascination in the forces of nature led him to research the attributes and motion of water. Early Italian water feature designers transformed private villa settings into inspiring water exhibits complete with symbolic meaning and natural charm by coupling imagination with hydraulic and gardening experience. Known for his incredible skill in archeology, architecture and garden creations, Pirro Ligorio, the humanist, provided the vision behind the splendors in Tivoli. For the assorted mansions near Florence, other fountain developers were well versed in humanist subject areas and classical technical texts, masterminding the phenomenal water marbles, water highlights and water jokes.
Acqua Vergine: The Remedy to Rome's Water Problems
Acqua Vergine: The Remedy to Rome's Water Problems Rome’s first raised aqueduct, Aqua Anio Vetus, was built in 273 BC; before that, people residing at higher elevations had to depend on local springs for their water.
If citizens residing at higher elevations did not have access to springs or the aqueduct, they’d have to rely on the remaining existing systems of the time, cisterns that collected rainwater from the sky and subterranean wells that drew the water from under ground. Starting in the sixteenth century, a unique strategy was introduced, using Acqua Vergine’s subterranean sections to generate water to Pincian Hill. As originally constructed, the aqueduct was provided along the length of its channel with pozzi (manholes) constructed at regular intervals. The manholes made it less demanding to clean the channel, but it was also achievable to use buckets to remove water from the aqueduct, as we viewed with Cardinal Marcello Crescenzi when he owned the property from 1543 to 1552, the year he passed away. Reportedly, the rainwater cistern on his property wasn’t sufficient to satisfy his needs. To provide himself with a much more efficient system to gather water, he had one of the manholes exposed, offering him access to the aqueduct below his residence.