Can Large Garden Fountains Help Cleanse The Air?

The Origins Of Garden Fountains

From the onset, outdoor fountains were simply meant to serve as functional elements. 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 nineteenth 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. Fountains were not only used as a water source for drinking water, but also to adorn homes and celebrate the artist who created it. Animals or heroes made of bronze or stone masks were often used by Romans to decorate their fountains. During the Middle Ages, Muslim and Moorish garden planners incorporated fountains to create smaller variations of the gardens of paradise. To demonstrate his dominance over nature, French King Louis XIV included fountains in the Garden of Versailles. The Popes of the 17th and 18th centuries were glorified with baroque style fountains built to mark the place of entry of Roman aqueducts.
Since indoor plumbing became the norm 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 decorative. Gravity was substituted by mechanical pumps in order to enable fountains to bring in clean water and allow for amazing water displays.
Decorating city parks, honoring people or events and entertaining, are some of the functions of modern-day fountains.