Water Delivery Solutions in Historic Rome
Water Delivery Solutions in Historic Rome
Aqua Anio Vetus, the first raised aqueduct built in Rome, started off providing the many people living in the hills with water in 273 BC, even though they had counted on natural springs up until then. If people living at higher elevations did not have accessibility to springs or the aqueduct, they’d have to be dependent on the other existing solutions of the day, cisterns that gathered rainwater from the sky and subterranean wells that received the water from below ground. In the early sixteenth century, the city began to utilize the water that flowed beneath the earth through Acqua Vergine to furnish 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 easier to thoroughly clean the channel, but it was also possible to use buckets to pull water from the aqueduct, as we discovered 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 meet his needs. That is when he made a decision to create an access point to the aqueduct that ran underneath his property.
Wall Fountains: The Minoan Culture
Wall Fountains: The Minoan Culture
A variety of types and designs of conduits have been unveiled through archaeological excavations on the island of Crete, the cradle of Minoan society. They were used for water supply as well as removal of storm water and wastewater. Many were created from terracotta or even rock. When manufactured from clay, they were generally in the form of canals and circular or rectangular pipes. Among these were terracotta piping which were U shaped or a shorter, cone-like form which have exclusively showed up in Minoan civilization. Knossos Palace had a advanced plumbing system made of terracotta conduits which ran up to three meters below ground. The pipelines also had other uses including gathering water and conveying it to a main site for storing. This called for the clay piping to be suitable for holding water without seepage. Underground Water Transportation: This particular system’s invisible nature might mean that it was originally planned for some type of ritual or to circulate water to limited groups. Quality Water Transportation: The conduits may furthermore have been made use of to move water to fountains which were split from the city’s standard system.
The Origins Of Wall Fountains
The Origins Of Wall Fountains A water fountain is an architectural piece that pours water into a basin or jets it high into the air in order to supply drinkable water, as well as for decorative purposes.From the onset, outdoor fountains were simply there to serve as functional elements. Cities, towns and villages made use of nearby aqueducts or springs to provide them with drinking water as well as water where they could bathe or wash.
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 flow down or shoot high into the air. Fountains were not only used as a water source for drinking water, but also to decorate homes and celebrate the artist who created it. Animals or heroes made of bronze or stone masks were often times used by Romans to beautify their fountains. During the Middle Ages, Muslim and Moorish garden designers included fountains in their designs to mimic the gardens of paradise. The fountains seen in the Gardens of Versailles were supposed to show the power over nature held by King Louis XIV of France. 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.
Since indoor plumbing became the standard of the day for clean, drinking water, by the end of the 19th century urban fountains were no longer needed for this purpose and they became purely ornamental. Fountains using mechanical pumps instead of gravity allowed fountains to provide 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 purposes of modern-day fountains.