Fontane di Piazza San Pietro, Vatican City
 |
Fontane di Piazza San Pietro are two fountains in St. Peter's Square in Vatican City, created by Carlo Maderno (1612–1614) and Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1667–1677) to ornament the square in front of St. Peter's Basilica. The older fountain, by Maderno, is on the north side of the square.
The Maderno fountain on the north side of the square is located on the site of an earlier fountain, built in 1490 during the time of Pope Innocent VIII. It was reputed to be the finest fountain in Rome.
 |
| Photo by Fadzil Hisham |
For half a century, the square was decorated with the Maderno fountain and with the obelisk raised by Pope Sixtus V, but the southern part of the square remained empty. In 1667, Pope Clement X commissioned Gian Lorenzo Bernini to build a second fountain, which closely followed the design of the Maderno fountain. The Bernini fountain was completed in 1677.
Like all fountains of the time, the fountain on St. Peter's Square had no pumps and operated purely by gravity, with a source of water higher than the fountain which caused the water to shoot upwards. The source of water for the fountain, the Aqua Paola, was on the Janiculum hill, 266 above sea level, which meant that the fountain could shoot water twenty feet upwards into the air.
Comments
Post a Comment