Page:A History of Architecture in All Countries Vol 2.djvu/301

Rh Be. VII. Ch. III. MUNICIPAL BUILDINGS. 285 Municipal Buildings. Spain does not seem to have possessed, during the Middle Ages, any municipalities of sufficient importance to require buildings of an important or permanent character for their accommodation. There are, it is true, one or two Lonjas, or places for the assembly of merchants, which are of some magnificence. But these were erected on the very verge of the Renaissance, and betray all the feebleness of an expiring style. That at Valencia is, perhaps, the best example.