The square was surrounded by small, one-storied stone or mud houses, in the walls of which were visible wooden stakes and posts obliquely crossed by carved wooden beams, as was the manner of building in those days.

Specimens of it can still be seen in some parts of Lithuania and Poland.

They were all covered with enormously high roofs, with a multitude of windows and air-holes.

On one side, close to the church, rose a building quite detached from and taller than the rest, probably the town-hall or some official structure.
It was two stories high, and above it, on two arches, rose a belvedere where a watchman stood; a huge clock-face was let into the roof.
The square seemed deserted, but Andrii thought he heard a feeble groan.
Looking about him, he perceived, on the farther side, a group of two or three men lying motionless upon the ground.

He fixed his eyes more intently on them, to see whether they were asleep or dead; and, at the same moment, stumbled over something lying at his feet.