import sys, math
sys.setrecursionlimit(10**8)
sys.set_int_max_str_digits(0)
INF = 1e18
MOD = 998244353
from bisect import bisect_left, bisect_right
from collections import deque, defaultdict, Counter
from itertools import product, combinations, permutations, groupby, accumulate
from heapq import heapify, heappop, heappush
def I():   return sys.stdin.readline().rstrip()
def II():  return int(sys.stdin.readline().rstrip())
def IS():  return sys.stdin.readline().rstrip().split()
def MII(): return map(int, sys.stdin.readline().rstrip().split())
def LI():  return list(sys.stdin.readline().rstrip())
def TII(): return tuple(map(int, sys.stdin.readline().rstrip().split()))
def LII(): return list(map(int, sys.stdin.readline().rstrip().split()))
def LSI(): return list(map(str, sys.stdin.readline().rstrip().split()))
def GMI(): return list(map(lambda x: int(x) - 1, sys.stdin.readline().rstrip().split()))
def kiriage(a, b): return (a+b-1)//b
def chmax(DP,i,v):
    if DP[i] < v: DP[i] = v
def chmin(DP,i,v):
    if DP[i] > v: DP[i] = v


# 座標 → 通し番号
# num = i * W + j
#def givenum(i, j, W):
#    return i * W + j
# 通し番号 → 座標
# i, j = divmod(num, W)

N = II()
def check(i, j):
    return 0 <= i < N and 0 <= j < N

C = [LI() for _ in range(N)]

que = deque()
DP = [[0] * (N*N) for _ in range(N*N)]

for i in range(N):
    j = N - 1 - i
    num = i*N + j
    DP[num][num] = 1
    que.append((num, num))

done = set()
while que:
    lnum, rnum = que.popleft()
    if (lnum, rnum) in done:
        continue
    done.add((lnum, rnum))

    li, lj = divmod(lnum, N)
    ri, rj = divmod(rnum, N)
    
    for ii, jj in [(0, -1),(-1, 0)]:
        lni, lnj = li+ii, lj+jj
        lnexnum = lni*N + lnj
        if not check(lni, lnj):
            continue

        # この lni, lnj に対して
        for ii, jj in [(0, 1),(1, 0)]:
            rni, rnj = ri+ii, rj+jj
            rnexnum = rni*N + rnj
            if not check(rni, rnj):
                continue

            # (lni, lnj) * (rni, rnj) のペア
            if C[lni][lnj] == C[rni][rnj]:
                DP[lnexnum][rnexnum] += DP[lnum][rnum] % MOD
                que.append((lnexnum, rnexnum))

ans = DP[0][-1] % MOD
print(ans)