Episcopal Palace of Astorga

The Episcopal Palace in Astorga, a small city in León province on the Camino de Santiago, begun in 1889 after a fire destroyed the old bishop's residence. Bishop Juan Bautista Grau gave the job to Gaudí; when Grau died in 1893 the diocese halted work, Gaudí resigned, and other architects finished it years later. Look at the deep, flared arch of the entrance porch below the pale stone towers, a castle out of a storybook. No bishop ever lived in it, and since 1964 it has housed the Museum of the Ways, devoted to the pilgrim route.