The First Water Fountains

The First Water Fountains Water fountains were originally practical in purpose, used to convey water from rivers or springs to towns and hamlets, supplying the inhabitants with clean water to drink, wash, and cook with. First Water Fountains 058629377105195.jpg

First Water Fountains 058629377105195.jpg

A supply of water higher in elevation than the fountain was necessary to pressurize the movement and send water squirting from the fountain's spout, a technology without equal until the later half of the nineteenth century. Fountains throughout history have been developed as monuments, impressing hometown citizens and tourists alike. Simple in design, the first water fountains did not appear much like modern-day fountains. A stone basin, carved from rock, was the very first fountain, used for containing water for drinking and religious purposes. 2000 B.C. is when the earliest known stone fountain basins were used. Early fountains put to use in ancient civilizations relied on gravity to manipulate the flow of water through the fountain. The placement of the fountains was influenced by the water source, which is why you’ll usually find them along reservoirs, canals, or streams. Animals, Gods, and religious figures dominated the early ornate Roman fountains, beginning to appear in about 6 B.C.. Water for the community fountains of Rome arrived to the city via a complicated system of water aqueducts.

The Source of Modern Fountains

The Source of Modern Fountains Hundreds of ancient Greek documents were translated into Latin under the auspices of the scholarly Pope Nicholas V, who ruled the Roman Catholic Church from 1397 to 1455. In order to make Rome worthy of being the capital of the Christian world, the Pope decided to enhance the beauty of the city. Restoration of the Acqua Vergine, a desolate Roman aqueduct which had transported clean drinking water into the city from eight miles away, began in 1453 at the behest of the Pope. Building a mostra, an imposing celebratory fountain built by ancient Romans to memorialize the arrival point of an aqueduct, was a custom revived by Nicholas V. At the bidding of the Pope, architect Leon Battista Alberti began the construction of a wall fountain in the place where we now find the Trevi Fountain. Modifications and extensions, included in the repaired 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.

The Dissemination of Water Fountain Design Knowledge

The Dissemination of Water Fountain Design Knowledge Throughout the European countries, the principal means of dissiminating useful hydraulic facts and fountain design ideas were the published papers and illustrated books of the day, which contributed to the evolution of scientific technology. An un-named French water fountain designer was an internationally renowned hydraulic pioneer in the later part of the 1500's. With Royal mandates in Brussels, London and Germany, he began his career in Italy, acquiring experience in garden design and grottoes with integrated and clever water hydraulics. In France, towards the closure of his lifetime, he penned “The Principle of Moving Forces”, a publication that became the essential text on hydraulic mechanics and engineering. Modernizing key hydraulic breakthroughs of classical antiquity, the book also details modern hydraulic technologies. Notable among these works were those of Archimedes, the developer of the water screw, a mechanized method of moving water. Sunlight warming water in two vessels unseen in a room adjacent to an ornamental fountain was shown in one illustration. Actuating the fountain is heated liquid that expands and ascends to seal up the pipes. Concepts for pumps, water wheels, water features and outdoor ponds are also included in the guide.