A Concise History of the First Public Fountains

Contemporary Garden Decoration: Outdoor Fountains and their Roots
Contemporary Garden Decoration: Outdoor Fountains and their Roots The amazing 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.The central purpose of a fountain was originally strictly practical. Cities, towns and villages made use of nearby aqueducts or springs to supply them with potable water as well as water where they could bathe or wash. 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 not only utilized as a water source for drinking water, but also to adorn homes and celebrate the artist who created it. Roman fountains often depicted images of animals or heroes made of metal or stone masks. Throughout the Middle Ages, Muslim and Moorish garden planners incorporated fountains to create smaller depictions of the gardens of paradise. To show his dominance over nature, French King Louis XIV included fountains in the Garden of Versailles. 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 location where the restored Roman aqueducts entered the city.
The end of the nineteenth century saw the rise in usage of indoor plumbing to provide drinking water, so urban fountains were relegated to purely decorative elements. Gravity was substituted by mechanical pumps in order to enable fountains to bring in clean water and allow for amazing water displays.
Beautifying city parks, honoring people or events and entertaining, are some of the purposes of modern-day fountains.