or in travelling garb, since death was believed to be a journey into the unknown. The oldest known coffin portrait in Poland is that depicting Stefan Batory, dating from the end of the 16th century. Many of the szlachta residences were provincial mansions, with a mansard roof. Numerous palaces and churches were built in Sarmatist Poland. There was a trend towards native architectural solutions which were characterised by Gothic forms and unique stucco ornamentation of vaults. Gravestones and epitaphs were erected in churches for those who had rendered considerable services for the motherland. Tens of thousands of manor houses were built across the Commonwealth. At the entrance there was a porch or a loggia. The central place where visitors were received was a large entrance hall. In the manor house there was an intimate part for women, and a more public one for men. Manor houses often had corner annexes. Walls were adorned with portraits of ancestors, mementos and spoils. Few of the manor houses from the Old Polish period have survived, but their tradition was continued in the 19th and 20th century. Hairstyle and moustache The writer and poet Mikołaj Rej (Nicholas Rey) recounts that "some people shave their beards and wear a moustache, some trim their beards in Czech style, others trim in Spanish style. There is also a difference around the moustache, some men are stroking it down, other men are brushing up. The nobility of the Sarmatian era did not have a beard and instead preferred a moustache, which became an indispensable attribute of a knightly face. Those who wore beards were said to be German". Jan Karol Chodkiewicz and Jan Zamoyski shaved their heads around, leaving a high tuft of hair above their forehead. This tuft was reportedly introduced in Poland by Samuel Łaszcz, who was to be the first to wear such a hairstyle. Only elderly senators had to wear a sumptuous beard, which was an expression of their high dignity or wisdom, as was the case in most European countries. The hairstyles and facial hair of the Polish nobility were also explicitly described by Giovanni Francesco Commendone who wrote that "some Poles have their heads shaved, others have clean-cut hair, many have hair, some have long beards, others are shaved apart from moustaches. Modern usage In contemporary Polish, the word "Sarmatian" (Polish: Sarmata- when used as noun, sarmacki- when used as adjective) is