Contemporary Garden Decor: Outdoor Fountains and their Beginnings

Contemporary Garden Decor: Outdoor Fountains and their Beginnings A water fountain is an architectural piece that pours water into a basin or jets it high into the air in order to provide drinking water, as well as for decorative purposes.

Contemporary Garden Decor: Outdoor Fountains Beginnings 9435636810793693.jpg

Pure practicality was the original role of fountains. People in cities, towns and villages received their drinking water, as well as water to bathe and wash, from aqueducts or springs nearby. Used until the 19th 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. Serving as an element of adornment and celebration, fountains also provided clean, fresh drinking water. Roman fountains often depicted imagery of animals or heroes made of metal or stone masks. Muslims and Moorish landscaping designers of the Middle Ages included fountains to re-create smaller versions of the gardens of paradise. King Louis XIV of France wanted to demonstrate his superiority over nature by including fountains in the Gardens of Versailles. The Romans of the 17th and 18th centuries manufactured baroque decorative fountains to exalt the Popes who commissioned them as well as to mark the location where the restored Roman aqueducts entered the city.

Urban fountains made at the end of the nineteenth functioned only as decorative and celebratory ornaments since indoor plumbing provided the essential drinking water. Gravity was replaced by mechanical pumps in order to enable fountains to bring in clean water and allow for amazing water displays.

Modern-day fountains function mostly as decoration for community spaces, to honor individuals or events, and compliment entertainment and recreational events.

The Source of Modern Outdoor Water Fountains

The Source of Modern Outdoor Water Fountains Himself a learned man, Pope Nicholas V headed the Roman Catholic Church from 1397 till 1455 and was responsible for the translation of scores of ancient documents from their original Greek into Latin. It was imperative for him to beautify the city of Rome to make it worthy of being known as the capital of the Christian world. 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. The ancient Roman tradition of building an awe-inspiring commemorative fountain at the point where an aqueduct arrived, also known as a mostra, was resurrected by Nicholas V. The Trevi Fountain now occupies the space previously filled with a wall fountain crafted by Leon Battista Albert, an architect employed by the Pope. The water which eventually furnished the Trevi Fountain as well as the famed baroque fountains in the Piazza del Popolo and Piazza Navona flowed from the modified aqueduct which he had renovated.