Fountains

Hardly missing from the lanes of Romanian villages, wells were always present in the lives of the Romanians, being a symbol of life, immortality and youth.

Fountains have besides their functional value an aesthetic one, thus detaching several types of fountains. In the plains we encounter sweep wells, specific to areas with shallow groundwater, increasingly rare our days. Where groundwater is at greater depth in the hills and mountains we meet wheel wells. We can also talk about the ornamental wells that have wooden structure, but do not have any water; they serve only decoration in the garden or yard. The occupation of man's well is ancient and once he finds water, he digs a hole around and paves it and then covers it with a wooden construction. This may be of different sizes and designs, from a simple roof on two pillars, to more complex construction of four pieces.

Coated well representative for me are the four massive pillars of oak, carved with twisted rope pattern, containing arched joints carved with motifs of Maramures: hoop, ears of wheat or geometric shapes: diamonds, squares, rosettes. The building is covered with a shingle roof with fir and beaten by hand, and on top of the building is a blessing to all who cross to halt the fountain.

There can be made decorative constructions, traditional and modern, located in various locations: private homes, hostels, near roads courtyards inside churches and monasteries. Covering the wells does not offer just aesthetique purpose but also protection of the space, of the water, and the one using it. In its interior we can arrange a place to settle things needed for removing water from the fountain: buckets, pots, jugs.

Fountains were the center of the village near the church, they were the place where love stories started, a telling place, a meeting place and the taifas. Same role like the fountains had the small wells, followed by water fountains, decorative, but with the same role; to provide cool, quench thirst and a place of respite. It was a place of socialization for people from the youngest to the oldest. Water as a primary element, symbolically cannot deprive from any popular culture, it is found not only in the Romanian space but belongs to the idea of universalization, being a necessary component for life on earth.