The Genesis Of Fountains
The Genesis Of Fountains
The incredible architecture of a fountain allows it to provide clean water or shoot water high into air for dramatic effect and it can also serve as an excellent design feature to complete your home. From the beginning, outdoor fountains were simply there to serve as functional elements. Cities, towns and villages made use of nearby aqueducts or springs to supply them with drinking water as well as water where they could bathe or wash. Until the late nineteenth, century most water fountains functioned using the force of 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. Artists thought of fountains as amazing additions to a living space, however, the fountains also served to supply clean water and honor the designer responsible for creating it. Animals or heroes made of bronze or stone masks were often times used by Romans to beautify their fountains. During the Middle Ages, Muslim and Moorish garden designers included fountains in their designs to mimic the gardens of paradise. Fountains played a considerable role in the Gardens of Versailles, all part of French King Louis XIV’s desire to exercise his power over nature. Seventeen and 18 century Popes sought to exalt their positions by adding decorative baroque-style fountains at the point where restored Roman aqueducts arrived into the city.
Since indoor plumbing became the standard 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 ornamental. Gravity was replaced by mechanical pumps in order to enable fountains to bring in clean water and allow for amazing water displays.
Modern fountains are used to adorn public spaces, honor individuals or events, and enrich recreational and entertainment events.
Rome’s First Water Transport Solutions
Rome’s First Water Transport Solutions With the construction of the first elevated aqueduct in Rome, the Aqua Anio Vetus in 273 BC, folks who lived on the city’s foothills no longer had to depend entirely on naturally-occurring spring water for their requirements. If inhabitants living at higher elevations did not have access to springs or the aqueduct, they’d have to rely on the remaining existing techniques of the time, cisterns that accumulated rainwater from the sky and subterranean wells that drew the water from below ground. Beginning in the sixteenth century, a new approach was introduced, using Acqua Vergine’s subterranean portions to deliver water to Pincian Hill. The aqueduct’s channel was made available by pozzi, or manholes, that were situated along its length when it was first developed.
While these manholes were developed to make it less difficult to maintain the aqueduct, it was also feasible to use buckets to remove water from the channel, which was done by Cardinal Marcello Crescenzi from the time he acquired the property in 1543 to his death in 1552. The cistern he had built to collect rainwater wasn’t adequate to meet his water needs. That is when he made the decision to create an access point to the aqueduct that ran below his residence.