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 ART FROM THE RENASCENCE TO THE PRESENT TIME

HE golden age of Polish civilization was that of. A great fire in 1499 had turned the royal castle on the Wawel into a ruin. Sigismund the Old, then only Crown Prince, and living at the Hungarian Court, was already endeavouring to find an opportunity for coming into contact with Italian artists. In

Hungary he bought, from Italian architects, plans for the castle to be erected, and in 1502 he called Franciscus Italus to Cracow, who built the western part of the palace, with the entrance door and the oriel. This oriel, attached to the short wing at the height of the second story, and facing the court, is of extraordinary beauty and charm. Its ornamentation, resembling that of the ducal palace at Urbino, perfectly equals the finest work of its kind to be found in Italy. This older part was afterwards transformed Rh