Page - 21 - in The Power of Urban Water - Studies in premodern urbanism

2 FromNature to Topography 21 examplesofavalorisationofarchitectural spacese.g.bysmall fountains illustrate thecontribu- tion of embeddingwater installations to the specific experience of amonumental built space. ImperialperiodLunidemonstrateswater tobeaclearlyomnipresentelementof the local sacred topographyandas a significant contribution to the specific atmosphere of its locations. Thepotential varietyof installations foradecorativedisplayofwater inmonumental archi- tecture can finally be exemplified by a lost inscription from Parma which points to a more unusual integration of water into an architectural context.29 The text of the inscription docu- ments thecostly transformationofacitygate intoa lavishlydecoratedmonumentby thecitizen Q.Munatius Apsyrtus during the 1st centuryAD. Apsyrtus had, fromhis own funds, the street fromthe forumto thecitygatepavedand thegatedecoratedwithmarble, sculpturesanddeco- rative fountains:marmoribus statuis fistuleis et salientibus ornavit. It is not possible to connect this gate and its decorative fountainswith a gate architecture knownarchaeologically. The ap- pearanceanddesignof thegatebeforeandafter the initiativeofApsyrtusmust thereforeremain unknown,asmust thespecific contributionof the salientes to thearchitecture.Yet the reported find spot of the long-lost inscription suggests that the initiativemight refer to the eastern city gate, i.e. theentranceof theViaAemilia, themainoverlandrouteof theregionpassing through the city.30 Thedecorativeaccentuationof oneof themost importantpoints of access to the city and, in the same way, focal point of the local main street was achieved also by embedded salientes. Theoutlined formsof theembeddingofwater inarchitectural settingsshowtheaspirations of localcommunitiesandindividuals toenrichtheirurbanspacesandtocreateadditionalvalue to their ambience. In this (aswell as in the solutionsapplied), the cities of northern Italy seem to followmore general trends in dealingwith urban space during the RomanEmpire. But the conspicuous lackofmonumental fountainarchitecture, for example,asurban furniturecompa- rable to the prominent nymphaea in the Roman East is an obvious indicator and reminder of the importanceofa regional focuswhendealingwithurbanphenomena.Yetbesides their limit- ednumber, our restricted knowledge of the local topographical context andbuilt environment of the smallnumberof knownmonumentsalsoprohibits a concrete assessmentof their impact on ‘their’urbanspace.A farmoreprecisepictureemerges, incontrast, fromthesmallerdecora- tivefountainsasanembeddedelementofmonumentalarchitecture.Thenumberof installations knownwith contexts, sometimes several in one city, allows for a better understanding of their local impact,butalsoof theaestheticstrategiesandsurplusunderlyingtheir installation.Where known,mostof themenrichedtheambienceof–at leastpartiallyclosed–architectural spaces, prominently sanctuaries. Here, the decorative fountains were always placed according to the overall architectural layout of the architectural complex, i.e. as part of an overall aesthetic concept, not as self-contained installations.Within these spaces, they highlighted built units, such as temple buildings within sanctuaries, by attracting the gaze of the viewer, adding a playful element to a static monumental setting. Finally, their placement (or the placement of their architecture) shows several of them accentuating situations of transition, like gates and flights of stairs, or emphasizinghierarchieswithin anarchitectural context.Monumental topo- graphies gained a new aesthetic dimension, urban spaces offered an increased, richer experi- ence. Naturalwater in regional cityscapes Compared to such decorative installations enriching architectural situations, the architectural transformationof (natural)water intoa topographical localeofurbanspacemeantacompletely 29 CILXI, 1062;DeMaria 1988, 248f. no.30 fig. 27. 30 Vera 2009, 245. 249.