The interior is much more colorful, and chock full of famous artwork. The king established a world famous library at the complex, for use by the monks that lived there. It was supposed to be something like a research center against Protestantism, collecting all sorts of ancient religious volumes for the monks to use in their research. It fell into disuse shortly after construction however, as subsequent generations of monks were illiterate, but is now the most popular part of the complex. By the way, a big chunk of the palace is still used as a monastery, convent and school so much of it is off limits. Which is a good thing because what's left is pretty tiring.



I thought the most interesting part of the palace was the king's quarters, a couple of plain white rooms tacked onto the basilica. He didn't age well, and for much of his life was afflicted with a disease that rotted his body and caused him too smell so bad that nobody could approach him. So he stayed by himself in his room,with a window overlooking the basilica where he could hear the church services being conducted around the clock, every day of the year.