Fontana dell'Acqua Felice

The Moses Fountain ( Italian Fontana Acqua Felice Fontana del Mosè or ) is a Baroque fountain in Rome at the Piazza San Bernardo on the Quirinal.

The fountain was 2009 - 2010 cleaned and restored by exhaust gases.

Acqua Felice

A few days after his election as Pope Sixtus V gave the order to restore the ancient Aqua Alexandrina. For their resources via Praenestina were reactivated. However, a new pipeline route has been selected, which led to the Porta Tiburtina. Through the Acqua Felice 21,000 cubic meters of water were passed to Rome every day. For the first time since antiquity could be powered back up to the center parts. After the civil name of Sixtus, Felice Peretti, the aqueduct was named Acqua Felice.

History

The endpoint of the aqueduct itself Sixtus wanted a representative wells. He gave the order in 1585 to his house architect Domenico Fontana, but also involved the artist Flaminio Vacca, Giacomo della Porta, Prospero da Brescia and Leonardo Sormani. At the dedication of the fountain on June 15, 1587 was missing the statue of Moses, which was later completed by Sormani.

The Moses Fountain was the model for the Fountain of Acqua Paola and the Trevi Fountain.

Architecture

As a motive for the fountain the subject of an ancient triumphal arch was selected. The fountain was designed with Roman travertine from Tivoli, who came mostly from the nearby Baths of Diocletian. In the left arch is a relief as Aaron the people of Israel leads to water that originates in the desert. The relief in the right arc shows Gideon with his soldiers. In the center is a four-meter large monumental statue of Moses. The four lions in front of the columns that share the arches date from the Pantheon. Prior to this facade extends a large fountain basin.

Legends

The statue of Moses has been widely criticized, since they clearly fell primarily artistic, compared with Moses in San Pietro in Chains by Michelangelo. It is said the sculptor of the statue had died from shame, because of the criticism, or have even committed suicide.