Where did Large Garden Fountains Begin?
Where did Large Garden Fountains Begin?
A fountain, an amazing piece of engineering, not only supplies drinking water as it pours into a basin, it can also launch water high into the air for an extraordinary effect. The primary purpose of a fountain was originally strictly functional. Cities, towns and villages made use of nearby aqueducts or springs to provide them with potable water as well as water where they could bathe or wash. Until the late 19th, century most water fountains operated using gravity to allow water to flow or jet into the air, therefore, they needed a supply of water such as a reservoir or aqueduct located higher than the fountain. Designers thought of fountains as wonderful additions to a living space, however, the fountains also served to provide clean water and honor the artist responsible for building it. Bronze or stone masks of animals and heroes were frequently seen on Roman fountains. Muslims and Moorish landscaping designers of the Middle Ages included fountains to re-create smaller models of the gardens of paradise. King Louis XIV of France wanted to demonstrate his dominion over nature by including fountains in the Gardens of Versailles. The Romans of the 17th and 18th centuries manufactured baroque decorative fountains to glorify the Popes who commissioned them as well as to mark the location where the restored Roman aqueducts entered the city.
The end of the nineteenth century saw the increase in usage of indoor plumbing to supply drinking water, so urban fountains were relegated to strictly decorative elements. Fountains using mechanical pumps instead of gravity allowed fountains to deliver recycled water into living spaces as well as create special water effects.
Embellishing city parks, honoring people or events and entertaining, are some of the uses of modern-day fountains.
Water Transport Strategies in Historic Rome
Water Transport Strategies in Historic Rome Rome’s first elevated aqueduct, Aqua Anio Vetus, was built in 273 BC; prior to that, people residing at higher elevations had to rely on local creeks for their water. When aqueducts or springs weren’t easily accessible, people dwelling at higher elevations turned to water pulled from underground or rainwater, which was made possible by wells and cisterns. Beginning in the sixteenth century, a brand new method was introduced, using Acqua Vergine’s subterranean portions to supply water to Pincian Hill.
Spanning the length of the aqueduct’s route were pozzi, or manholes, that gave access. Though they were initially manufactured to make it possible to service the aqueduct, Cardinal Marcello Crescenzi started out using the manholes to gather water from the channel, starting when he purchased the property in 1543. He didn’t get sufficient water from the cistern that he had constructed on his residential property to collect rainwater. Through an opening to the aqueduct that flowed under his property, he was in a position to satisfy his water desires.