Gardens of the Eternal Fountain

The ocean is full of mysteries, wonders and creatures who’d really like to introduce their teeth to bits of you that you’d rather not have teeth in. But it’s also home to more mundane mysteries too - like, have you ever wondered where all the water in the ocean comes from?

Me neither, but shut up, I’m going somewhere with this. All that water though! How did it get here? Sure you could use science to explain how these oceans formed billions years ago. Or! You could take a dip in Mig’s Eternal Fountain and see for yourself.

“During construction,” Mig tells me, “I thought of this story where humanity finds an endlessly flowing fountain atop a mountain, [which] produces the water present in every ocean, lake and river. So, people turned it into a shrine, carving out the mountain to form the gardens, with the fountain at the very top.”

A magical fountain from which all the waters of the world spring. Sounds like something you’d read about in a book on mythology. But as Mig explains, truth is always cooler than fiction.

“I’ve always liked ancient architecture,” he says. “Especially in the form of controlling the flow of water - like the aqueducts of Rome, the canals of Venice or the hanging gardens of Babylon. I once saw a build of those Hanging Gardens and I tried to build something based on that idea. It failed.”

But Mig didn’t treat it purely as a failure. He thought of it as more a learning opportunity.

“Seeing the community create all of these incredible megastructures and immense landscapes every day makes me feel the [earlier version of] Gardens looked a bit like a dirt hut.”

A dirt hut? This? Impossible! I don’t even see any dirt blocks.

“However, being featured on Minecraft.net, I know I must have done something right,” says Mig. “And through this experience, I learned what and what not to include in future builds. For instance, don’t break random laws of physics, like with the massively overhanging aqueducts, when emulating realism. Also, don’t have purely rectangular and symmetrical builds, try to make your structures have variety.”

Mig set out to build one garden, which didn’t work, but from that he built another, better garden. And all because he kept trying.

“Overall, this was an experiment, the outcomes of which I can take and use on future builds. Ultimately, if I can take anything away from this and learn and improve, it’s worth it. Everything else is just extra, the icing on the cake.”

Mig, just because you don’t see how awesome and impressive and amazing your work is, doesn’t mean others won’t!