Page - 18 - in The Power of Urban Water - Studies in premodern urbanism

18 Patric-AlexanderKreuz Stagingwater: fountain architecturesand installations Beginningwith the1st centuryAD,wewitnessanewphenomenonindealingwithwaterbeyond themanagement of ‘natural’ water: the enriching of urban spaces or architecturewith decora- tivewater installations, leading tonewways toencounterwater in the regional cityscapes.This local desire to enrich the local cityscape clearly benefitted from the construction of large over- landaqueductsestablishingacontinuous freshwater supply for thecitiesof the region fromthe endof the 1st century BC. Thenew, continuouswater supply allowed for various new forms to embedwater in theurbanspacebesides theomnipresent, yetunspectacular (andhere left out) street-side fountains of utilitarianpurpose. Among these new forms,we findmonumental and elaborate fountain architectures thatmaybedescribed as ostentatious stagings ofwater in ur- banisticcontexts,aswellassmallerdecorative installationsembeddedasanaestheticcontribu- tion to architectural settings. Especially the often so-called nymphaea, i.e. monumental and richly decorated fountain architecture,whichbecame increasinglypopular in the architecture of the Imperial period, are often considered iconic water installations of Roman urbanity.16 Bordering squares or streets, theaesthetic impactof thesemonumentson theirbuilt environmentcannotbeunderestimated. In addition, they attracted attention and contributed to themicro-climate and acoustic back- groundof their location, thus shapingurban spacebyadding specific surplus value.However, compared to theabundanceof suchmonumentsknownfromthecitiesofe.g.AsiaMinoror the Levant, the evidence for comparable architecture from the cities of northern Italy is rather sparse.Only thanks toa fragmentary inscriptiondatedto the late1st centuryADwithmonumen- tal letteringdoweknowe.g. of the existenceof anymphaeum inRomanComo.17Archaeologi- cally known, yet uncommonand remarkable, is a constellation inMilan,where along a street about 150mwest of the forum two decorative fountains were located opposite each other:18 according to the excavators, the first one consisted of an 8mwide rectangular basin, a rear second basin and a final apse. Traces of wall painting, mosaics andmarble veneer aremen- tionedasevidenceofa former lavishdesign.Lesswellknownis thesecond,unexcavatedbuild- ing, which lay on the same axis as the first. Other nymphaea contributing to urban spaces in the cities of the regionmay be inferred hypothetically – if at all – from groups of dislocated decoratedmarble elements that must have belonged to the decorative orders of monumental architectural designs, yet of unknown function.19 16 On suchmonumental fountain architecture, their not unproblematic terminology – and its shiftingmeaning since the Hellenistic period – as well as the manifold architectural and aesthetic solutions applied during the Roman imperial periodand their urban impact, seeLetzner 1990, 24‒59;Gros 1996, 418‒444. 17 Pais 1884, no.747;Goffin 2002, 93. 18 Letzner 1990, 143. 194. 391f. no. 242 pl.89, 1 (first nymphaeum); Neuerburg 1965, 257f. no. 227; Letzner 1990, 392 (second installation). 19 Prominent are the groups of suchmarble elements fromMilan and Parma. In Milan, F. Sacchi was able to define twosuchgroups,bothof 2ndcenturyADdate (‘gruppo II’ and ‘gruppo III’; Sacchi 2012,91f. 161–186nos.71– 94 pls.44, 4–64, 2 (‘gruppo II’); Sacchi 2012, 92. 187–194 fig.60 nos.95–99 pls.64, 3–68, 2 (‘gruppo III’)). The numerically larger group II comprises decorated elements of at least five to six Corinthian orders of different col- ouredmarble varieties (cipollino, portasanta, bigio antico, africano, proconnesian). Group III, on the other hand, consists of elementsof a compositeorder, includingagaindifferent colouredmarblevarieties. In termsofmaterial of a different character (only proconnesianmarble ofwhite-greyish colour), three groups fromParma studied by M.P.Rossignani alsodate to the 2nd centuryAD (Rossignani 1975, 43–65).GroupB,with its elementsof triangular and segmental arches, as well as a peopled acanthus scroll of a richly decorated architecture, is of particular interest here. The former architectural context of the groups both fromMilan and Parma is not known.We can imagine themas former elements of ornamental façades of theatre stages, thermal baths or nymphaea. Yet these richlydecoratedmonumental façadesmadeof importedmarbleareconspicuousexceptions innorthern Italy.Con- sidering their limitednumber, theobviousambitionand thequality of their craftsmanship, theybelong to the top rangeof architecturalmonuments erected in the regionandmusthaveprominently enriched their urban spaces.