El Capricho is a villa in Comillas, designed by Antoni Gaudí. It was built in 1883-85 for the summer use of a wealthy client, Máximo Díaz de Quijano. Unfortunately the client died a year before the house was completed.
Gaudí, who designed only a small number of buildings outside Catalonia, was involved with other projects at Comillas. He was the assistant of Joan Martorell on another summer residence, the palacio de Sobrellano.
El Capricho belongs to the architect's orientalist period, during the beginnings of Gaudi's artwork. El Capricho allows to see all the foundations on which modernism is based, anticipating Europe's avant-garde modernism. The tower has been compared to a minaret. After the dead of Máximo Díaz de Quijano, this building was used such as a summer house for the most economically and politically powerful people.
References:The Clementinum is a historic complex of buildings in Prague. Until recently the complex hosted the National, University and Technical libraries, the City Library also being located nearby on Mariánské Náměstí. The Technical library and the Municipal library have moved to the Prague National Technical Library at Technická 6 since 2009. It is currently in use as the National Library of the Czech Republic.
Its history dates from the existence of a chapel dedicated to Saint Clement in the 11th century. A Dominican monastery was founded in the medieval period, which was transformed in 1556 to a Jesuit college. In 1622 the Jesuits transferred the library of Charles University to the Klementinum, and the college was merged with the University in 1654. The Jesuits remained until 1773, when the Klementinum was established as an observatory, library, and university by the Empress Maria Theresa of Austria.