Where did Landscape Fountains Come From?
Where did Landscape Fountains Come From? A fountain, an amazing piece of engineering, not only supplies drinking water as it pours into a basin, it can also propel water high into the air for a noteworthy effect.From the beginning, outdoor fountains were soley meant 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 until the nineteenth, fountains had to be higher and closer to a water supply, such as aqueducts and reservoirs, in order to benefit from gravity which fed the fountains. Acting as an element of adornment and celebration, fountains also generated clean, fresh drinking water. Animals or heroes made of bronze or stone masks were often times utilized by Romans to beautify their fountains. To depict the gardens of paradise, Muslim and Moorish garden planners of the Middle Ages added fountains to their designs. To demonstrate his dominance over nature, French King Louis XIV included fountains in the Garden of Versailles.
Seventeen and 18 century Popes sought to exalt their positions by including decorative baroque-style fountains at the point where restored Roman aqueducts arrived into the city.
Since indoor plumbing became the norm of the day for fresh, drinking water, by the end of the 19th century urban fountains were no longer needed for this purpose and they became purely ornamental. Impressive water effects and recycled water were made possible by replacing the power of gravity with mechanical pumps.
Modern fountains are used to embellish community spaces, honor individuals or events, and enhance recreational and entertainment events.
The Origins of Contemporary Outdoor Wall Fountains
The Origins of Contemporary Outdoor Wall Fountains Hundreds of classic Greek texts were translated into Latin under the authority of the scholarly Pope Nicholas V, who ruled the Roman Catholic Church from 1397 to 1455. It was important for him to embellish the city of Rome to make it worthy of being known as the capital of the Christian world. At the bidding of the Pope, the Aqua Vergine, a ruined aqueduct which had transported clean drinking water into Rome from eight miles away, was renovated starting in 1453.
A mostra, a monumental celebratory fountain constructed by ancient Romans to mark the point of entry of an aqueduct, was a custom which was restored by Nicholas V. At the behest of the Pope, architect Leon Battista Alberti began the construction of a wall fountain in the place where we now find the Trevi Fountain. The water which eventually furnished the Trevi Fountain as well as the famed baroque fountains in the Piazza del Popolo and Piazza Navona came from the modified aqueduct which he had renovated.