and vases. The building having got into disrepair, it was restored in the years 1876-1879 by the architect Thomas Prylinski; he pulled down the annexes, which were not in style, added the characteristic archways leading along on both sides, and thus gave a harmonious and uniform character to the whole building. The crystal vaults of these archways rest on granite pillars, with capitals designed in part by the most famous of modern Polish painters, John Matejko.
Of medieval palaces and private houses, only scanty remains have been preserved. They consist in the vaulted halls and corridors on the ground-floors of some of the houses in Central Square. The finest hall among them is that in the old Mint and Provost's
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30. KEYSTONES OF THE GOTHIC HALL IN THE OLD MINT.
House (now No. 17, Central Square), built about 1340-1356: here the profuse arrangement of ribs on the vault, with beautifully carved keystones (illustration 30)—one of which shows the builder's mark bear eloquent witness both to the good taste and the fondness for architecture of Cracow's citizens at that period. More numerous are door-frames terminating either in pointed arches or straight horizontal lintels. Above some doors, there are reliefs which give the house its name; e.g., the house called "The Lizards" (No. 8, Central Square) shows, in a cavetto, the inlaid figures of two animals biting each other; they are, however more like greyhounds than lizards.
