Hostal de San Marcos

This former monastery and pilgrims' hospital in León boasts one of the longest and most elaborate Plateresque facades in Spain, its pale stone carved with medallions, scallop shells and figures over some hundred metres. Built from the sixteenth century as a headquarters of the Order of Santiago serving pilgrims on the road to Compostela, it later housed a prison. Today part of it operates as a luxury parador hotel, while its church and cloister form a museum. A modern pilgrim statue rests before the facade beside the river.