The Tavole Palatine ('Palatine Tables') are the remains of a hexastyle peripteral Greek temple of Magna Graecia the 6th century BC, dedicated to the goddess Hera and the god Apollo. The temple, located near the Bradano river in the south of Italy, was part of a countryside sanctuary and remains of the wall of the temenos and of a very ancient altar are visible.
The remains are located in the archaeological area of Metapontum, on the last of the Givoni, ancient sandbanks near the right bank of the river Bradano, built over the remains of a neolithic village on the prehistoric road from Siris-Heraclea, about three kilometres from the ancient city of Metapontum.
The temple, restored in 1961, was initially attributed to the cult of the goddess Athena, but a fragment of a vase found in the course of the 1926 archaeological excavations turned out to be a votive dedicated to the goddess Hera, showing that she was the patron of the sanctuary.
The temple was composed of a central naos, preceded by a pronaos and with an adyton at the rear. Fifteen columns with twenty flutes and Doric capitals survive. Of these fifteen columns, ten are on the north side and five on the southern side. Originally there were thirty-two columns, since the temple had a peristasis of twelve columns on each long side and six on each short side. The temple has decayed significantly because it was built with local limestone (so-called mazzarro). In the fifth century BC, the temple had a tiled roof with multi-coloured decoration in the Ionic tradition, with leonine protomes and gargoyles.
Numerous remains of terracotta decoration, statuettes and ceramics, along with smaller column fragments were found near the temple during the 1926 excavations and are now kept at the Museo archeologico nazionale di Metaponto.
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.