Palacio Episcopal

The Episcopal Palace is the only major work that Antoni Gaudí completed outside Catalonia. Begun in 1889 and finished in 1913, it is built from local grey-white granite in a neo-medieval style that nods to the cathedral next door — pointed arches, fortress-like turrets, a deep moat — but the silhouette and the strange interplay of windows and angles are pure Gaudí. The interior is even better than the exterior: a vaulted ground floor with delicate ribs and stained glass that pools coloured light onto the floor.

Since 1962 the palace has housed the Museo de los Caminos, a small but well-curated museum dedicated to the pilgrimage routes through Spain. Roman, medieval and contemporary objects associated with the Camino are displayed alongside the architecture, which is the real reason to visit. The chapel on the upper floor, with its ribbed vault and altar by Gaudí, is the high point. Entry is around €6; a combined ticket with the cathedral costs a few euros more.

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A story
The bishop who commissioned the building was Juan Bautista Grau, a fellow Catalan and personal friend of Gaudí. When Grau died in 1893 the diocesan chapter quarrelled with the architect over the design — they thought it looked too much like a fairy-tale castle and not enough like a respectable episcopal residence — and Gaudí walked off the project. The palace was finished decades later by other architects, and no bishop has ever lived in it.

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