The Rotonda Reservoir
The great Rotonda reservoir, situated at the corner of Via Citolo da Perugina, was realized in 1925. The aqueduct monumental reservoir is 36 meters (117 feet) high; at the base of the monument a small chapel was built, in memory of some refugees from Padua who were looking for shelter in the nearby courtyard of the Burlini family’s house, and who afterwards were killed by an Austrian aerial bomb. In commemoration of this tragic event the reservoir was carved all around with the following inscription:
“ SANGUINEM OLIM ATROCITER EFFUSUM AQUA PIE DEFLUENS LAVET MOLES IN CAELUM PROFERAT PERPETUO”.
On the reservoir, there is also the tombstone of Mr Andrea Moschetti, with the following inscription:
“Il martirio di 93 innocenti (....) salga a Dio olocausto perenne di futura grandezza alla patria di un nuovo patto d’amore tra i popoli”, it can be translated as: “May the torture of 93 innocent persons reach God as eternal holocaust and a new pact of love among the peoples.”
The reservoir’s main aim was to increase the water availability during day time by collecting it during the night. From an architectural-engineering perspective the reservoir shows many interesting features. Its external shape recalls the Roman mausoleums while the inside offers an example of a highly valuable technical system. The essential lines that show the main structures, are so modern that it seems .as if they are drawing the route of the water while falling down to the ground floor and into the earth. .
The following pictures give just a general idea of the strong sensation conveyed by the main structure.
Read more about this topic: The Garden Of The Rotonda Padua
Famous quotes containing the word reservoir:
“It’s very expressive of myself. I just lump everything in a great heap which I have labeled “the past,” and, having thus emptied this deep reservoir that was once myself, I am ready to continue.”
—Zelda Fitzgerald (1900–1948)