The City Of Rome, Gian Lorenzo Bernini, And Outdoor Water Fountains

The City Of Rome, Gian Lorenzo Bernini, And Outdoor Water Fountains City Rome, Gian Lorenzo Bernini, Outdoor Water Fountains 22572972140.jpg

There are countless celebrated water features in the city center of Rome. Pretty much all of them were planned, designed and built by one of the finest sculptors and artists of the 17th century, Gian Lorenzo Bernini. His skills as a fountain designer and also as a city designer, are obvious all through the streets of Rome. Bernini's father, a celebrated Florentine sculptor, guided his young son, and they finally settled in Rome, to fully exhibit their art in the form of community water fountains and water features. The young Bernini earned compliments from Popes and influential artists alike, and was an diligent employee. Initially he was well known for his sculpting skills. An authority in ancient Greek architecture, he utilized this knowledge as a starting point and melded it seamlessly with Roman marble, most famously in the Vatican. Although a variety of artists impacted his artistic endeavors, Michelangelo influenced him the most.

The History of Wall Fountains

The History of Wall Fountains Hundreds of ancient Greek records were translated into Latin under the auspices of the scholarly Pope Nicholas V, who ruled the Roman Catholic Church from 1397 to 1455. It was imperative for him to beautify the city of Rome to make it worthy of being called 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 behest of the Pope. The ancient Roman tradition 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 location of the Trevi Fountain was formerly occupied by a wall fountain commissioned by the Pope and constructed by the architect Leon Battista Alberti. History Wall Fountains 9396718716.jpg

The water which eventually provided the Trevi Fountain as well as the acclaimed baroque fountains in the Piazza del Popolo and Piazza Navona flowed from the modified aqueduct which he had renovated.

Rome’s Early Water Delivery Solutions

Rome’s Early Water Delivery Solutions Rome’s 1st raised aqueduct, Aqua Anio Vetus, was built in 273 BC; prior to that, people living at higher elevations had to rely on natural creeks for their water. If citizens residing at higher elevations did not have access to springs or the aqueduct, they’d have to rely on the remaining existing solutions of the time, cisterns that gathered rainwater from the sky and subterranean wells that drew the water from below ground. To offer water to Pincian Hill in the early sixteenth century, they utilized the brand-new technique of redirecting the flow from the Acqua Vergine aqueduct’s underground network. Rome’s Early Water Delivery Solutions 77338430583204.jpg

The aqueduct’s channel was made available by pozzi, or manholes, that were positioned along its length when it was first designed. Whilst these manholes were created to make it much easier to manage the aqueduct, it was also feasible to use containers to remove water from the channel, which was employed by Cardinal Marcello Crescenzi from the time he obtained the property in 1543 to his passing in 1552. He didn’t get adequate water from the cistern that he had manufactured on his residential property to gather rainwater. Thankfully, the aqueduct sat under his residence, and he had a shaft established to give him access.

Agrippa’s Marvelous Water-lifting Appliance

Though the device developed by Agrippa for raising water gained the respect of Andrea Bacci in 1588, it seemed to vanish not long after. It might have come to be outdated when the Villa Medici was able to obtain water from the Acqua Felice, the early contemporary conduit, in 1592. Although it is more likely that it was merely disposed of when Ferdinando renounced his cardinalship and travelled back to Florence, ensuring his position as the Grand Duke of Tuscany, following the loss of his sibling, Francesco di Medici, in 1588. There might have been some other significant water-related works in Renaissance gardens in the later part of the sixteenth century, including fountains that played music, water caprices (or giochi d’acqua) and even scenographic water displays, but none were powered by water which defied gravitation.