Modern Garden Decoration: Outdoor Fountains and their Beginnings
Modern Garden Decoration: Outdoor Fountains and their Beginnings
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. Pure practicality was the original purpose of fountains. Water fountains were linked to a spring or aqueduct to provide potable water as well as bathing water for cities, townships and villages. Up until the nineteenth, fountains had to be more elevated and closer to a water source, such as aqueducts and reservoirs, in order to take advantage of gravity which fed the fountains. Acting as an element of decoration and celebration, fountains also generated clean, fresh drinking water. Animals or heroes made of bronze or stone masks were often times utilized 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. The fountains seen in the Gardens of Versailles were intended to show the power over nature held by King Louis XIV of France. Seventeen and 18 century Popes sought to laud their positions by adding decorative baroque-style fountains at the point where restored Roman aqueducts arrived into the city.
Urban fountains made at the end of the 19th century served only as decorative and celebratory adornments since indoor plumbing provided the essential drinking water. Impressive water effects and recycled water were made possible by switching the power of gravity with mechanical pumps.
Nowadays, fountains adorn public areas and are used to pay tribute to individuals or events and fill recreational and entertainment needs.
How Mechanical Designs of Fountains Spread
How Mechanical Designs of Fountains Spread Throughout Europe, the chief means of spreading useful hydraulic information and fountain design suggestions were the circulated pamphlets and illustrated books of the time, which contributed to the evolution of scientific technology.
An un-named French fountain engineer was an internationally celebrated hydraulic pioneer in the late 1500's. With imperial mandates in Brussels, London and Germany, he started his career in Italy, developing knowledge in garden design and grottoes with built-in and ingenious water features. “The Principles of Moving Forces”, a guide which became the essential text on hydraulic mechanics and engineering, was authored by him toward the end of his life in France. Classical antiquity hydraulic breakthroughs were outlined as well as changes to crucial classical antiquity hydraulic discoveries in the book. The water screw, a technical method to move water, and invented by Archimedes, was featured in the book. Natural light warmed the liquid in two hidden containers adjoining to the decorative fountain were displayed in an illustration. What occurs is the hot liquid expanded, rises and locks up the pipes heading to the water fountain, and thus leading to stimulation. Designs for pumps, water wheels, water features and outdoor ponds are also covered in the publication.
The Source of Today's Outdoor Water Fountains
The Source of Today's Outdoor Water Fountains
Pope Nicholas V, himself a well educated man, reigned the Roman Catholic Church from 1397 to 1455 during which time he commissioned many translations of ancient classical Greek documents into Latin. Beautifying Rome and making it the worthy capital of the Christian world was at the center of his ambitions. At the behest of the Pope, the Aqua Vergine, a ruined aqueduct which had transported clean drinking water into Rome from eight miles away, was renovated starting in 1453. The ancient Roman custom of building an imposing commemorative fountain at the location where an aqueduct arrived, also known as a mostra, was restored by Nicholas V. The present-day site of the Trevi Fountain was formerly occupied by a wall fountain commissioned by the Pope and constructed by the architect Leon Battista Alberti. The water which eventually furnished the Trevi Fountain as well as the renown baroque fountains in the Piazza del Popolo and Piazza Navona came from the modified aqueduct which he had renovated.
Can Outdoor Fountains Help Detoxify The Air?
Can Outdoor Fountains Help Detoxify The Air? An otherwise lackluster ambiance can be livened up with an indoor wall fountain. Pleasant to the senses and advantageous to your well-being, these indoor features are an excellent addition to your home.
The research behind this theory endorses the fact that water fountains can favorably impact your health. The negative ions generated by water features are countered by the positive ions released by present-day conveniences. When positive ions overtake negative ones, this results in bettered mental and physical wellness. They also raise serotonin levels, so you start to feel more alert, relaxed and invigorated. The negative ions emitted by indoor wall fountains promote a better mood as well as remove air impurities from your home. Allergies, air-borne pollutants among other annoyances can be done away with by these water features. Finally, these fountains absorb dust particles and micro-organisms in the air thereby affecting your general health for the better.