Bazyliszek

The first time I noticed it was at a restaurant at the Old Town Market square. The restaurant's name was Bazyliszek and I remember asking my wife what that creature was.

She explained it was connected to a myth where people got stonified when looking straight into this ugly friend's eyes. The eyes of it were red like you can see.

From another angle:

She then explained that someone came to the bright idea to hold a mirror in front of its face to kill it.

Months later I started to notice more of these on buildings in "Stare Miasto" (Old Town). 

So it was not just one restaurant named after it. That triggered me to find out more about this myth.

The word

The word Bazyliszek comes from the greek word basiliskos. It is sometimes called the king of the snakes - a mythic creature, which appears in legends tales.

Harry Potter

You might have heard of it, J.K Rowling wrote about in her Harry Potter book in which the monster attacked students in Hogwart. Bazyliszek also comes forward in the fantasy book "Forgotten Lands". It is introduced there as big monster, hunting with its nails looking at enemies with a glance look. Also, it is a character of Terry Prachett's book "The world of disc - Sorcery".

What was it?

The Bazyliszek was born from a hen's egg and could reach a very high age. Another legend states that Bazyliszek was a creature born just once every 100 years from a rooster's egg.

OK, a rooster egg...noted.

Furthermore, it looked like a snake. And it showed similarities to a lizard. It could reach up to 15 meters long, it ate birds and mammals and his natural enemy was the spider.

Defending itself it used its cuspids, but the Bazyliszek was mostly feared because of its eyes. The myth says that looking into its eyes would stonify yourself.Some person came to the bright idea to hold a mirror in front of it. The natural element that can kill Bazyliszek is a crow of rooster.

Conclusion is that this myth is not specifically connected to Warsaw. 

And I have not seen one in real yet, so we will be fine I guess.