The amazing or ornamental effect of a fountain is just one of the purposes it fulfills, in addition to providing drinking water and adding a decorative touch to your property.
From the onset, outdoor fountains were soley there 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. Used until the nineteenth century, in order for fountains to flow or shoot up into the air, their source of water such as reservoirs or aqueducts, had to be higher than the water fountain in order to benefit from gravity. Fountains were not only used as a water source for drinking water, but also to adorn homes and celebrate the designer who created it. The main components used by the Romans to build their fountains were bronze or stone masks, mostly depicting animals or heroes. During the Middle Ages, Muslim and Moorish garden designers included fountains in their designs to re-create the gardens of paradise. To show his prominence over nature, French King Louis XIV included fountains in the i thought about this Garden of Versailles. Seventeen and 18 century Popes sought to extol their positions by adding beautiful baroque-style fountains at the point where restored Roman aqueducts arrived into the city.
Since indoor plumbing became the norm 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 beautiful water displays.
Modern-day fountains serve mostly as decoration for public spaces, to honor individuals or events, and enhance entertainment and recreational gatherings.