Villa Zeno in Cessalto is the most easterly villa designed by Renaissance architect Andrea Palladio. The building is near the highway between Venice and Trieste, but was built to face a canal which served as the primary means of arrival.
Palladio's building for the Zeno family has been dated to the 1550s. It is illustrated in I Quattro Libri dell'Architettura, the architect's influential publication of 1570, and has similarities to some of the other villas described there such as the Villa Saraceno.
Palladio appears to have incorporated an existing building, and his villa has had several modifications. Its Palladian features include a facade characterised by a triple-arched loggia. The roof is capped with period clay tiles, and the structure is of brick covered with stucco, typical of Palladio who was able to achieve great buildings with what are commonly regarded as inferior materials.
In 1996 it was designated by UNESCO as part of the World Heritage Site 'City of Vicenza and the Palladian Villas of the Veneto'. The villa is in need of restoration.
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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.