The Origins Of Outdoor Fountains
The Origins Of Outdoor Fountains A fountain, an incredible piece of engineering, not only supplies drinking water as it pours into a basin, it can also propel water high into the air for an extraordinary effect. Pure practicality was the original purpose of fountains. People in cities, towns and villages received their drinking water, as well as water to bathe and wash, via aqueducts or springs nearby. Up to the late nineteenth century, water fountains had to be near an aqueduct or reservoir and higher than the fountain so that gravity could make the water move downwards or jet high into the air. Serving as an element of adornment and celebration, fountains also provided clean, fresh drinking water. Bronze or stone masks of animals and heroes were frequently seen on Roman fountains. During the Middle Ages, Muslim and Moorish garden planners included fountains to create mini variations 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 Popes of the 17th and 18th centuries were glorified with baroque style fountains built to mark the arrival points of Roman aqueducts.
Urban fountains created at the end of the nineteenth functioned only as decorative and celebratory adornments since indoor plumbing provided the necessary drinking water. Amazing water effects and recycled water were made possible by replacing the power of gravity with mechanical pumps.
Modern fountains are used to adorn public spaces, honor individuals or events, and enhance recreational and entertainment events.
Rome’s First Water Delivery Systems
Rome’s First Water Delivery Systems Aqua Anio Vetus, the first raised aqueduct built in Rome, began providing the people living in the hills with water in 273 BC, though they had depended on natural springs up till then. If residents residing at higher elevations did not have accessibility to springs or the aqueduct, they’d have to be dependent on the remaining existing solutions of the day, cisterns that compiled rainwater from the sky and subterranean wells that drew the water from below ground. In the early 16th century, the city began to make use of the water that flowed underground through Acqua Vergine to deliver drinking water to Pincian Hill.
All through the length of the aqueduct’s route were pozzi, or manholes, that gave entry. Whilst these manholes were manufactured to make it less difficult to sustain the aqueduct, it was also possible to use buckets to extract water from the channel, which was utilized by Cardinal Marcello Crescenzi from the time he invested in the property in 1543 to his passing in 1552. The cistern he had constructed to gather rainwater wasn’t adequate to meet his water specifications. To give himself with a more streamlined means to obtain water, he had one of the manholes opened, offering him access to the aqueduct below his property.