Plopped right inside the Alhambra complex, this massive Renaissance palace feels almost defiantly out of place — and that was entirely the point. Emperor Charles V commissioned Pedro Machuca in 1527 to build a statement of Christian imperial power amid the Nasrid palaces. The result is a striking circular courtyard ringed by Doric and Ionic colonnades, unique in Renaissance architecture. The building was never finished in Charles's lifetime and sat roofless for centuries. Today it houses the Museum of Fine Arts (free for EU citizens) and the Museum of the Alhambra, making it one of the few parts of the complex you can visit without the notoriously hard-to-get Alhambra ticket.