Contemporary Garden Decor: Large Outdoor Water Fountains and their Beginnings

Contemporary Garden Decor: Large Outdoor Water Fountains and their Beginnings The dramatic or ornamental effect of a fountain is just one of the purposes it fulfills, as well as providing drinking water and adding a decorative touch to your property.

The main purpose of a fountain was originally strictly practical. Residents of urban areas, townships and small towns used them as a source of drinking water and a place to wash up, which meant that fountains had to be linked to nearby aqueduct or spring. Up to the late 19th century, water fountains had to be near an aqueduct or reservoir and more elevated than the fountain so that gravity could make the water move downwards or shoot high into the air. Artists thought of fountains as amazing additions to a living space, however, the fountains also served to supply clean water and honor the designer responsible for building it. Bronze or stone masks of animals and heroes were frequently seen on Roman fountains. During the Middle Ages, Muslim and Moorish garden planners included 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. Contemporary Garden Decor: Large Outdoor Water Fountains Beginnings 174756294960964011.jpg The Popes of the 17th and 18th centuries were glorified with baroque style fountains built to mark the arrival points of Roman aqueducts.

Urban fountains created at the end of the nineteenth served only as decorative and celebratory adornments since indoor plumbing provided the necessary drinking water. Impressive water effects and recycled water were made possible by replacing the power of gravity with mechanical pumps.

Nowadays, fountains adorn public spaces and are used to recognize individuals or events and fill recreational and entertainment needs.

At What Point Did Water Features Originate?

At What Point Did Water Features Originate? Pope Nicholas V, himself a well educated man, ruled the Roman Catholic Church from 1397 to 1455 during which time he commissioned many translations of old classical Greek documents into Latin. Embellishing Rome and making it the worthy capital of the Christian world was at the core of his ambitions. At the behest of the Pope, the Aqua Vergine, a damaged aqueduct which had carried clean drinking water into Rome from eight miles away, was renovated starting in 1453. Building a mostra, a grandiose celebratory fountain built by ancient Romans to memorialize the entry point of an aqueduct, was a custom revived by Nicholas V. The present-day site of the Trevi Fountain was once occupied by a wall fountain commissioned by the Pope and constructed by the architect Leon Battista Alberti. Adjustments and extensions, included in the restored aqueduct, eventually supplied the Trevi Fountain and the well-known baroque fountains in the Piazza del Popolo and Piazza Navona with the necessary water supply.