A good deal of building went on in Leon during the sixteenth century. In the Plaza de San Marcelo (before Alfonso XI.’s time, outside the walls) stands the mansion of the illustrious Guzman family, of which Guzman el Bueno, of Tarifa fame, was an illegitimate and the most distinguished member. It was built in the year 1560 by Juan Juiñones y Guzman, Bishop of Calahorra. Its architecture is severe and imposing. Over the main entrance, adjoining a square tower at the corner of the building, are two medallions on which is engraved the motto, ‘Ornanda est dignitas domo--non domo dignitas tota quærenda’--a device which one wishes all the architects of the age had borne in mind. The interior _patio_ is adorned with handsome plateresque reliefs. Next to the Casa Guzman is the residence of the marquesses of Villasinta, in rather similar style. Beneath the sixteenth-century façade of the mansion of the great Luna family was discovered a fine Gothic arch, with another pointed arch supported by columns with Byzantine capitals. This work cannot be later than the thirteenth century. In the _patio_ is a magnificent arch designed with arabesques. Looking on the Plaza de San Marcelo is one of Leon’s two town halls, finished by Juan de Rivera in 1584. The lower story is of the Doric order, the upper Ionic. In the council-chamber, hung with damask and velvet, may be read the verses proclaiming the excellences of the city:-- ‘En argen Leon contemplo Fuerte, purpureo, triunfal. De veinte santos ejemplo, Donde está el unico templo Real y sacerdotal. Tuvo veinte y cuatro reyes Antes que Castilla leyes; Hizo el fuero sin querellas; Libertó las cien doncellas De las infernales greyes.’ The other town hall (Casas Consistoriales) in the Plaza Mayor was built to accommodate the municipal authorities on the occasion of festivities and public functions in the square. It is an elegant building, built in 1677, and is surmounted by a pediment and acroteria, and by weather vanes on its flanking towers.