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Escorial Monastery. Escorial

- Spanish monastery, palace and royal residence. The Escorial building is located an hour's drive from the Spanish capital, right at the foot of the Sierra de Guadarrama.

The palace of granite blocks looks very severe: its facades are decorated only with corner towers, traditional for Spanish architecture. The harsh temper of the Spanish king is, as it were, reflected in the appearance of Escorial.

In Spain itself, the royal residence is called the Eighth Wonder of the World.

Externally, the palace looks more like a real fortress. Spread out in a vast rectangle, it has strict and symmetrical facades, and the size of the walls of the palace is 206 by 161 meters.

The walls of the building, carved with military grace, may seem monotonous and unsophisticated.

There are so many windows and doors here that all attempts to calculate their exact number are initially doomed to failure. (The most common figure is 2500 windows and 1250 doors, but this result is not always the same.)

The main work on the Escorial belongs to two architects.

The first drawings of the project were made by Juan Bautista de Toledo: there is evidence that for this purpose he studied the experience of the builders of the Roman Cathedral of St. Peter.

The continuation of the construction of the palace in 1567 belongs to the architect Juan de Herrera, who determined the final appearance of the building.

The construction of the Escorial lasted from 1563 to 1584. Philip II, whose residence later became the palace, took an active part in the implementation of the Escorial project.

The chambers of the king in the palace were placed so that directly from them the Spanish monarch could get into the church. The king chose such a strict and laconic appearance of the palace, taking care of its rich interior decoration: the chambers were decorated with many works of fine art.

Therefore, today the Escorial Palace is also valuable as an art gallery. This architectural monument has the works of such eminent masters of painting as Velazquez, El Greco, Veronese, Hieronymus Bosch and Tintoretto.

A huge solid palace - a monastery of light sandstone, strict forms, without any decorations, stucco, columns, statues strikes with its monumentality against the backdrop of the bright blue sky of Spain and the greenery of the mountains.

The appearance of Escorial opened a new style in architecture, which became quite common in Spain of those times - desornamentado (undecorated).

Lion Feuchtwanger, in his article on the Escorial, relates a legend according to which the Spaniards defeated the French at the battle of San Quentin, but accidentally destroyed the monastery of the extremely revered Spanish Saint Lawrence, who died from torment on a grate set over a fire. King Philip, in order to atone for the destruction, ordered the construction of a temple resembling a lattice in terms of plan. Four towers in the corners were supposed to symbolize her legs, and the Palace of the Infantes, prominent with its facade forward, was a handle. And such a monastery with palaces was built according to the project of Michelangelo's student Juan Batista from Toledo and his successor Juan from Herrera from 1563. by 1584

Neither on the facades, nor in the interior decoration of the royal chambers is there any ostentatious luxury and pomp of decoration. Only strict columns and statues of the Old Testament kings, elegantly executed cornice balustrade.

The view is enlivened by beautiful courtyards with intricate plantings of trees and shrubs of rich green color.

The inside of the monastery is also finished with modest gray marble. Pilasters, columns, frieze, walls of the cathedral are all in a calm gray color, but airy, light, sublime.

Only the altar, raised to a height of four floors in the main nave of the temple, decorated with marble of different colors, precious stones and jasper, illuminated through a glass lantern in the dome of the cathedral, attracts the eye.

Moreover, in the light arcade of the library, located in one of the long galleries of the palace, all the books are displayed with gilded edges towards the public, and with the spines inside, as if warning that we should not even know the titles of the works read by the king of Spain himself.

This library, if not equal in terms of collected rarities to the Vatican library, takes second place.

In Escorial, the Pantheon, magnificent in its gloom, is arranged, where all the kings of Spain are buried, starting with Charles V.

Only Philip V asked to be interred in Segovia, and even the ashes of Ferdinand IV are in the capital.

Queens who gave birth to heirs to the throne are also buried here. Opposite the royal tomb is the pantheon, where infants of both sexes and queens whose children never inherited the throne have been buried since the 19th century. It is worth visiting this solid castle of El Escorial, which contains magnificent paintings by great artists.

Paintings by Titian, Veronese, El Greco, Hieronymus Bosch, Tintoretto, Coelho, Ribera, tapestries based on Goya's sketches - you can list famous names for quite some time.

Things to Remember

  • Dress warmly - this area of ​​Spain always has cold winds.
  • The currency is the euro, the language is Spanish, but there are many English speakers.

Museum opening hours

  • from October to the end of March from 10.00 to 17.00 (Monday closed)
  • and from the beginning of April to September inclusive from 10.00 to 18.00 (day off - Monday)

When visiting the museum, before buying a ticket (a lock diagram is attached to it), you must go through a metal detector and check things.

Prices

  • The cost of visiting depending on the excursion: sightseeing, educational or historical - on average, 10 Euro. You can pay by credit card.

How to get there

  1. By train: Line C-8 from Atocha Station. It takes about an hour to get to the stop, which is called El Escorial. Then follow the sign "Monasterio" on foot up 100 m and then along a special path through the park. Just 15 minutes walk. The cost of round-trip tickets is about 8 euros.
  2. By bus: from the Madrid Intercambiador bus station, which is located at the exit of the Moncloa metro, buses No. 661 or 664 leave every 15 minutes on weekdays, every 30 minutes on weekends. Drive about an hour. Then from the bus stop 200m on foot. The fare is 3.20 euros.
  3. Renting a car will cost from 30 Euro per day, but will make you more mobile.

At 50 km from Madrid, among the hills covered with dense forest, rises a huge rectangle of the monastery of St. Lawrence - San Lorenzo. This is the famous Escorial, the most famous historical monument in Spain, created at the behest of King Philip II. Other well-known architectural masterpieces of Spain include an amazing one in Granada, majestic and impregnable in Segovia, a formidable castle in Murcia, an exquisite castle in the province of Biscay.

Escorial, an architectural wonder of Spain

Behind the bridge over the river Guadarrama, the ascent begins - mountainous slopes, stony soil, heaps of brown rocks, shrubs, rare pines. There are small villages with red tiled roofs. The slopes are covered with beautiful oak groves.

From the second rise you can see Escorial. It is located at the foot of a grandiose amphitheater of grey-steel granite rocks. The impeccably regular rectangle of the ensemble, crowned with a dome, seems quite small from a distance. Its severe, gloomy appearance is emphasized by the gray granite walls of the monastery, the clarity of architectural forms, and the absence of any sculptures or other decorations.

A different impression arises when looking at El Escorial from the north, from the slopes of the Sierra de Guadarrama, as if the whole city rises in the vast, sun-drenched silver valley of Manzanares. Boundless wide expanses, arrays of wild lilac mountains, clean fresh air and amazing clear light under the mountain sky - everything creates the feeling of a free world spread around. It was necessary to find completely special forms of figurative expression so that the architectural complex built here would not be absorbed by the grandeur and infinity of this beautiful world.

As soon as the construction of Escorial was completed, the Spaniards were not slow to proclaim this architectural monument as the eighth wonder of the world. Written in 1609 by Lope de Vega, the comedy was called “The Eighth Wonder” and allegorically sang the wonderful temple erected by the “King of Bengal” at the foot of high mountain whose name is Guadarrama.

The fame of Escorial in many countries of the world was greatly facilitated by the engravings of 1587 by Pedro Pereta based on the drawings of the architect Juan de Herrera. The basis of literature about the famous royal ensemble was laid by historians, chroniclers, travelers of different nationalities. But Escorial also had its own erudite historiographers in the person of the monks of the Hieronymite order, for which the monastery of San Lorenzo was intended. Among them, first of all, should be named Fra José Siguenza, a scientist, writer, musician, the first keeper of the Escorial library, author of the History of the Order of St. Jerome (1600-1605) - one of the main sources on the history of Escorial.

Escorial, construction history

The creation of the ensemble is usually attributed to a series of coincidental circumstances. August 10, 1557, the day of the feast of St. Lawrence (San Lorenzo), the combined Anglo-Spanish army defeated the French troops at the Battle of Saint-Quentin. Philip II, impatiently awaiting the outcome of the battle, at the joyful news of the victory, vowed to erect a temple in the name of St. Lawrence. Martyr Lawrence was especially close to the Spanish heart because he was from Aragon. According to legend, the plan of Escorial is in the form of a lattice, on which the saint was burned alive in 261 by order of the Roman emperor Valerian.

In addition to his passion for St. Lorenzo Philip II was distinguished by self-absorption, melancholy, deep religiosity and poor health. He was looking for a place where he could rest from the cares of the king of the most powerful empire in the world.

The king wanted to live surrounded by monks, not courtiers; in addition to the royal residence, El Escorial was to become, first of all, the monastery of the order of St. Jerome. Philip II said that he wanted to "build a palace for God and a shack for the king."

The future building was supposed to combine the monastery, the personal residence of the king and, in pursuance of the will of the late father of Charles V, the tomb of the Spanish monarchs. The location of Escorial was chosen after long and careful surveys of the Manzanares river valley by a special commission. The Spanish chronicler José Siguenza wrote: "The king was looking for a landscape that contributed to the elevation of his soul, conducive to his religious reflections."

The village of El Escorial near the empty iron mines (from the Spanish escoria - “slag”, from where the name of the ensemble came from) attracted with its good location, healthy climate, an abundance of mountain springs and the presence of excellent building material - light gray granite.

The construction of the ensemble, begun in 1563, was carried out under the personal supervision of Philip II. At the head of all the work was a talented and experienced leader - a monk of the order of the Hieronymites, Fra Antonio de Villacastin. Enormous funds were allocated for the construction. Not only all of Spain, whose various regions supplied marble, pine wood, wrought iron lattices, church utensils, crosses, lamps, lamps, embroideries and fabrics, participated in the creation of the Escorial, but also other European countries, as well as American colonies, from where they brought gold and valuable tree species.

Philip II entrusted the construction of the Escorial to Juan Bautista de Toledo, his chief architect, whom he brought back from Italy in 1559, where he studied and worked for a long time in Naples and Genoa.

Gradually, the name of Juan de Toledo faded into the background and faded in the shadow of Juan de Herrera (c. 1530-1597), his talented young assistant, who led the construction in 1567 and became the generally recognized creator of the Escorial.


To decorate Escorial, the king attracted the best foreign craftsmen. The Italians Pellegrino Tibaldi, Federico Zuccaro, Luca Cambiaso, Romulo Cinchinato, Niccolò Granello, Fabrizio Castello, Bartolomeo Carduccio and others worked here. the vault and frieze of the main internal staircase were also created by the Italian baroque master Luca Giordano. In general, the vast majority of the artistic treasures of the Escorial, as well as the museums of Madrid, are the works of Italian masters.

Another feature that makes no less impression in Escorial is the contrast between the crampedness and poverty of the personal home of Philip II and the enormous size of the palace chambers intended for receptions and worship. There are more than eleven thousand windows in these chambers, and a weak beam of light through a small door barely penetrates into a narrow room that once belonged to the ruler of half the world. The books of the magnificent palace library are very curiously arranged on the shelves: with gold edges on the outside, and with the roots inside, as if the rulers of the Escorial wanted to warn the public that they should not know the titles of the works that the king reads.


As they say, before his death, Philip II wished to say goodbye to Escorial. For a long time, for six days, the dying king was slowly carried on a stretcher from Madrid. His foggy eyes still managed to see his beloved brainchild for the last time. A few hours later, the king died ... Starting with Philip II, Escorial became the burial place of the kings of Spain.

Later, the rulers made changes to the Escorial, but despite this, it retains its artistic unity to this day. In the 17th century, Philip IV completed the construction of the Royal Pantheon, which contained the remains of the Spanish kings.

Royal Pantheon of Escorial


One of the goals of the construction of El Escorial by Philip II was to create a mausoleum for his father, Emperor Charles V, whose remains were transferred here in 1586. The ashes of all the kings of Spain, starting with Charles V, are buried here, except for Philip V, who could not stand the gloom of the Escorial and asked to be buried in Segovia, and Ferdinand VI, whose grave is in Madrid.

Both kings and queens, who gave birth to male heirs, are buried here in stone boxes on the shelves of whatnots, having previously rested for 50 years in secret rooms"pudrideros", and moved to the Pantheon already in the form of dust.

Opposite is the Pantheon of the Infantes, built in the 19th century, connected by an underground corridor, where princes, princesses and queens are buried, whose children did not inherit the throne. The sarcophagus for royal children (El Panteon de Infantes) who died in infancy is called "La tarta" (cake) because of its curvaceous shape. It was built at the request of Queen Isabella II in 1888 by master José Segundo de Lema.

The peculiar design of this ambiguous structure makes it easy for people endowed with a developed imagination to imagine this "cake" cut into slices and stuffed in the form of a juvenile dauphin in each serving.

Two tombs in Escorial are empty. The last to be buried here was the only non-king who was so honored - Don Juan Bourbon. His son and the current King Juan Carlos I, and indeed the entire people of Spain, felt that he deserved such a token of recognition for his support of democracy under Franco and his renunciation of the throne in favor of his son for a peaceful transfer of power.

Also, in addition to the royal tomb in Escorial, there are many rooms for royal relatives, but the tombstones are mostly the same: the same or almost the same sarcophagi, coats of arms and inscriptions.

The marble tomb of Juan of Austria, the winner of the Turks in the historic battle of Lepanto in 1571, stands out here with particular beauty. He is the illegitimate son of Emperor Charles V. Everyone knows him under the name of Don Juan, the very one who broke the hearts of the frivolous ladies of his time. This is probably why there are 14 (!) wedding rings on his fingers. A knight of Carrara marble rests in a dream, clutching a sword in his hands. At his feet are gloves of armor, as a sign that he did not die in battle, but died of illness.

Over the next few hundred years, the Escorial lost some of its collections due to fires and looting, but even today it remains the most complete and impressive monument of the late Renaissance in Spain. Now Escorial is included in and is one of the most visited.

Inclusion 1984 (8 session)

Coordinates : 40°35′21″ s. sh. 4°08′52″ W d. /  40.589167° N sh. 4.147778° W d.(G)(O)40.589167 , -4.147778

* Name in official Russian. list
** Name in official English. list
*** UNESCO region

Monastery of Escorial- monastery, palace and residence of King Philip II of Spain. Located an hour from Madrid at the foot of the Sierra de Guadarrama. The architectural complex Escorial evokes a variety of feelings: it is called and "the eighth wonder of the world", And "a monotonous symphony in stone" And "architectural nightmare".

Construction

The history of the Escorial begins on August 10, 1557, when the armies of Philip II defeated the French at the Battle of Saint-Quentin in Flanders. It happened on the day of St. Lawrence (San Lorenzo), and Philip II decided to erect a monastery in honor of this saint. The new palace complex was supposed to embody the strength of the Spanish monarchy and Spanish weapons, reminiscent of the Spanish victory at San Quentin. Gradually, the plans grew, as did the significance of the structure. It was decided to embody the testament of Charles V - the creation of a dynastic pantheon, and also, by combining the monastery with the royal palace, to express in stone the political doctrine of Spanish absolutism. The king sent two architects, two scholars and two masons to find a site for a new monastery that would not be too hot, not too cold, and not too far from the new capital. After a whole year of searching, they ended up where Escorial is now.

In addition to his passion for St. Lawrence, Philip II was distinguished by self-absorption, melancholy, deep religiosity and poor health. He was looking for a place where he could rest from the cares of the king of the most powerful empire in the world. He wanted to live surrounded by monks, not courtiers; in addition to the royal residence, El Escorial was to become, first of all, the monastery of the order of St. Jerome. Philip II said that he wanted to "build a palace for God and a shack for the king." Philip did not allow anyone to compose his biography during his lifetime: in fact, he wrote it himself, and wrote it in stone. The victories and defeats of the empire, the succession of deaths and tragedies, the king's obsession with learning, the arts, prayers and statecraft - all this is reflected in the Escorial. The central position of the huge cathedral symbolizes the king's belief that all political actions should be guided by religious considerations.

The first stone was laid in 1563 . Construction lasted 21 years. The chief architect of the project was Juan Bautista de Toledo, a student of Michelangelo, and after his death in 1569, the completion of the work was entrusted to Juan de Herrera, who owns the ideas for the final finish. The complex was an almost square building in the center of which there was a church, to the south - the premises of the monastery, to the north - the palace; each part had its own courtyard.

Philip followed all stages of design and construction. Of great importance from a conceptual point of view was the choice of architectural style. Philip II needed to emphasize the break with the medieval past and the European significance of his state. This requirement was most consistent with the style of archaized Renaissance architecture.

For interior decoration, the best materials were used and the best craftsmen of the peninsula and other countries were assembled. Wooden carvings were made in Cuenca and Avila, marble was brought from Aracena, sculptural works were commissioned in Milan, bronze and silver products were made in Toledo, Zaragoza, Flanders. On December 13, 1584, the last stone was laid in the building of the complex. After that, artists and decorators took up the work, among whom were the Italians P. Tibaldini, L. Cambiaso, F. Castello and others.

And after the completion of construction, Philip II did not leave Escorial with his worries. Here he collected a large number of works by Spanish and European painters, valuable books and manuscripts were brought here. Already after the death of Philip II, the collections continued to be replenished by his heirs, and now the Escorial keeps the works of Titian, El Greco, Zurbaran, Ribera, Tintoretto, Coelho.

The chambers of the king, in contrast to the luxury of large military halls and the gloomy splendor of the pantheon, were decorated extremely simply. Brick floors, smooth whitewashed walls - this was more in the traditional spirit of Spanish dwellings and, moreover, corresponded to the created image of Philip the Monarch.

Architecture

Ceiling painting in Escorial Palace

Escorial brilliantly embodied the ideas embodied in it. Erected from light sandstone in clear and strict forms, it rises against the backdrop of mountain greenery as calmly and confidently as Philip II looks at us from the portrait of Coelho. It is amazing that the shape of each of the buildings corresponds to its purpose: the simplicity of the royal chambers, the bright and high interior of the church, the light structure of the arcades in the library, the gloomy splendor of the tomb. Courtyards with greenery, as it were, cut the stone and let the mountain light into the chambers. No wonder Philip II loved his brainchild so much. Here he ordered to transport him at the approach of death. Escorial became a model of palace complexes, which was imitated or repelled by subsequent Spanish kings.

The Escorial is a 208 x 162 m rectangle. It has 15 galleries, 16 patios (patios), 13 chapels, 300 cells, 86 stairs, 9 towers, 9 organs, 2673 windows, 1200 doors and a collection of over 1600 paintings. Some believe that the building is shaped like an overturned brazier in memory of St. Lawrence, who was roasted alive.

The northern and western walls of the monastery are surrounded by a large square called longha(Spanish) lonja), and on the south and east side are gardens, which offer a magnificent view of the monastery fields, orchards and the surroundings of Madrid behind them. This view is also admired by the statue of King Philip II in Frailes garden(Spanish) Jardin de los Frailes), where the monks rested after their labors. To the right of the garden is a convalescent gallery.

Museums

The Escorial has two large new museum. One of them presents the history of the construction of the Escorial in drawings, plans, construction tools and scale models. The second, in nine rooms, contains paintings of the 15th-17th centuries, from Bosch to Veronese, Tintoretto and Van Dyck, as well as artists of the Spanish school. The Habsburgs are therefore considered the greatest patrons of the arts of their time. Particularly well represented are the painters of the Flemish school and Titian, the court painter of Charles V.

Pantheon

One of the purposes of Philip II's construction of the Escorial was to create a mausoleum for his father, Emperor Charles V, whose remains were transferred here in 1586. However, the magnificent pantheon in bronze, marble and jasper was built in the crypt of the church only under Philip III in 1617. Here lie the ashes of all the kings of Spain, starting with Charles V, except Philip V, who could not stand the gloom of the Escorial and asked to be buried in Segovia, and Ferdinand VI, whose grave is in Madrid. Queens who gave birth to male heirs are also buried here. Opposite is the 19th century Pantheon of Princes where princes, princesses and queens are buried whose children did not inherit the throne.

Two tombs in Escorial are empty. The last to be buried here was the only non-king who was awarded such an honor, Don Juan Bourbon. His son and current King Juan Carlos I, and indeed the entire people of Spain, felt that he deserved a similar token of recognition for his support of democracy under Franco and his renunciation of the throne in favor of his son for the sake of a peaceful transfer of power.

Cathedral

While some illustrious visitors raved about the magnificence of the Escorial, others were rather overwhelmed by the grandeur of the cathedral. The French writer and intellectual Théophile Gauthier wrote: “In the Escorial Cathedral one feels so overwhelmed, so crushed, so prone to melancholy and overwhelmed by unbending strength, that prayer seems completely useless.”

The frescoes on the ceiling and along the 43 altars were painted by Spanish and Italian masters. The main retablo (behind the altar) was designed by Escorial's architect Juan de Herrera himself; between the jasper and marble columns are paintings of scenes from the life of Christ, the Virgin Mary and saints. On the other side are the royal seats and sculptures of Charles V, Philip II and their families at prayer.

Library

The Escorial Library is second only to the Vatican and houses the manuscripts of St. Augustine, Alfonso the Wise and St. Teresa. It houses the world's largest collection of Arabic manuscripts, illustrated hymnbooks, and works of natural history and cartography dating back to the Middle Ages. This is the only library in the world where books are placed spines inside to better preserve the ancient decorations of the bindings. Pope Gregory XIII declared that anyone who stole a book from here would be excommunicated. Now most of the books on display are copies of the originals.

The ceiling painting, made by Tibaldi and his daughter, symbolizes the seven sciences: grammar, rhetoric, dialectics, arithmetic, geometry, astronomy and music. The end walls are dedicated to the two main sciences, theology and philosophy.

During the reign of the Bourbons, part of the living quarters was rebuilt and two small palaces were erected near the monastery, used as hunting and guest houses.

The well-known Spanish Arabist Condé served in the Escorial library.

El Escorial

Near the ensemble of the monastery of Escorial, the city of San Lorenzo de El Escorial arose. The population according to the data for 2011 is about 19 thousand people.

Literature

  • Spain. Window to the world. M: EKOM-PRESS, 1998.
  • History of culture of the countries of Western Europe in the Renaissance / under. ed. L. M. Bragina. M .: Higher School, 2001.

Links

Monastery of San Lorenzo at Wikimedia Commons

The correct name of which is San Lorenzo del Escorial, a royal residence built in the 16th century. Escorial is located 50 kilometers from Madrid, among the wooded hills of the foothills of the Sierra de Guadarama.

Escorial Palace in Spain: construction history

The beginning of its construction dates back to 1561, when King Philip II, the second king of the Habsburg dynasty, who ruled Spain at that time, having decided to implement the order of his father Charles V to build a royal tomb, visited the town of Escorial in the Sierra de Guadarama, where masons lived. Departing a little from the story, we will inform you that Escorial is translated from Spanish as “a pile of slag”.

The architect of the project was a student of Michelangelo Juan Batisto de Toledo. He supervised the construction for the first six years - from 1563 to 1569. After his death, Juan de Herrere completed and finished the palace. The king personally oversaw all stages of construction and foresaw a shift in style from the gloomy Middle Ages to a more secular look. In plan, the architectural complex is an almost regular square measuring 161 by 206 meters, in the center of which is a church, to the south is a monastery, to the north is a palace.

The entire outer contour of the Escorial is a closed five-story building on a high base. The entire interior space is divided into 11 courtyards, forming the appearance of the same lattice on which Saint Lawrence was martyred. For a long time it was considered the largest building in the world. Connoisseurs counted 4,000 chambers in it, and the length of the corridors was calculated in tens of kilometers.


The interior decoration of the Escorial was carried out in full accordance with the order of Philip II. For the premises of the monastery, the church and the tomb, they used the best materials that the Spanish Empire had at its disposal, and, given its wide geography, the possibilities were very large. The gold of the Incas from the western outskirts of the empire went in a continuous stream to the construction of the Escorial.

Wood carvers and sculptors from all over Spain worked on decorating its interior. Barcelona metro from A to Z. Mount Montjuic is a park area of ​​Barcelona and a place of historical events. Read here. The royal chambers themselves were decorated very simply, on the verge of poverty. The last stone in the walls was laid in 1584, and the decoration continued for a very long time, even after the death of Philip II, when his descendants, shocked by the ascetic severity of the royal chambers and the fact that the altar of the church was visible from them, with open doors, tried a little rearrange them.

The history of the construction of the dome over the basilica of the temple in Escorial is interesting. It took 20 years to build this gigantic structure 90 meters high. It could have been even higher, but the Vatican demanded that its height should not exceed the height of St. Peter's Cathedral in Rome. Philip II was very fond of his palace-monastery. His descendants continued this tradition, so that in addition to the magnificent halls of the Escorial and its Cathedral, decorated with the greatest possible luxury, many picturesque masterpieces are also available to tourists for inspection.

Escorial (Spain) and its sights

What should a tourist see? Tourists can first of all look at the architectural delights of Escorial, one of which is the main courtyard, called the "courtyard of the kings." It was named so because in its upper tier there are six giant sculptures depicting the Old Testament kings from Solomon to Saul. This emphasized the king's desire to demonstrate his commitment to continuing their cause, his determination in the fight against dissent in matters of faith.

Escorial (Madrid) and museums

In addition, there are two museums in Escorial. One of them shows the history of the royal residence in the drawings of various authors and eras. Also in this museum there are several models of Escorial, many household items that were used in the daily life of the royal residence and building tools used in the construction of this symbol of Spain.

The second occupies nine rooms and contains the royal collection of paintings by artists who worked in the 15th-17th centuries. There you can see paintings by Van Dyck, Titian, Bosch, Tintoretto, Veronese The study of King Philip II It will be interesting to look at the chambers and study of King Philip II, they have only brick floors, smooth whitewashed walls. The king's office is adorned with one single Bosch painting, The Garden of Earthly Delights, and the throne from which he ruled his vast country is just a camp chair of his father, King Charles V.

If you want to visit the museum during your trip to Madrid, you can book a tour with local guides in advance:

Escorial Palace: library

It is also interesting to visit the Escorial library, although they will not give you anything to read, even if you have knowledge of ancient languages. Just one contemplation of the intellectual wealth that the Spanish kings amassed can lead to awe, breaking the stereotype of the carefree and sweet royal life. Built in Escorial and the pantheon of Spanish monarchs, almost all of whom, starting with Charles V, are buried there, even those who were not on the throne. The current view of the pantheon, decorated with bronze, marble and jasper, was created in 1617 by King Philip III, who did not adhere to such ascetic views on life as his great-grandfather. Only two of the Spanish kings do not rest there - Philip V, who hated Ferdinand VI for gloominess.

Escorial - how to get from Madrid

architectural complex Escorial (Spain) is located fifty kilometers from, not far from the small town of the same name, which the Spaniards call "upper Escorial (Escorial de Arriba)".

Some Spaniards are sure that the "eighth wonder of the world" is located on the territory of the Kingdom, and this is the El Escorial monastery in the suburbs of Madrid. Be that as it may, once in the capital of Spain, it is better to go yourself to the monument listed as a UNESCO protected site, in order to form your own opinion about the majestic monastery of San Lorenzo de El Escorial.

Monastery legends

Pious Spaniards have been passing from mouth to mouth a legend full of mysteries and magic for several centuries. Rumor has it that the monastery of San Lorenzo was built to close the "Gates to Hell", which are supposedly located at the foot of the Guadarrama mountains. The most impressionable monks of the Order of St. Augustine claimed that at night the huge black dog Cerberus resorted to the construction site to protect the Gate from curious parishioners. And after the completion of the construction, which lasted 21 years, King Philip II moved to the new library a colossal collection of books on the occult and magic, which the Holy Inquisition did not even suspect.

The real reason for the construction of the monastery near Madrid is not so mystical. In 1557, the king's army, in a battle with the French in Flanders, which was then under the control of Spain, accidentally destroyed the temple of St. Lorenzo, revered throughout the country. In honor of the victory and in memory of the saint, Philip II ordered the construction of the most majestic castle in Europe, where he was going to establish a royal residence, a library, a monastery of the Holy Order of Jerome, in order to take a break from the duties of a king in the company of monks.

First of all - simplicity in construction, seriousness in general; nobility without arrogance, grandeur without ostentatious luxury ... (from the instructions of King Philip to the architect of Toledo).

Philip II had a dream to build a pantheon for the burial of his father, Emperor Charles V. Today, here you can see the tombs of kings and queens, princes and princesses who ruled the country since the time of Charles V.

Monastery today

Now El Escorial is considered one of the most fascinating architectural monuments in Spain. And it amazes not only with its colossal size, but also with its content.

You can visit, which houses two large museums. In the first one you will learn the history of the construction of the monastery, you will see drawings, plans and skillfully executed models. The second museum contains art paintings of the 15th-17th centuries. The most interesting are tapestries and paintings by such great masters as El Greco, Bosch, Van Dyck. And in one of the nine halls you can look at the maps of the world compiled in those days. So, on some you will not find Russia, but in the place of modern France you will see Flanders and Burgundy.

IN Cathedral of El Real you will be amazed by the frescoes on the ceiling masterfully painted by Spanish artists, as well as the space behind the altar - scenes from the life of Christ and the Virgin Mary are reproduced in the paintings decorated with gold. And on the other side you can see sculptures of Charles V, Philip II and their families praying.

Royal Library in size and collection second only to the Vatican. More than 40 thousand books and about 3 thousand manuscripts are stored here. Interesting fact: The El Escorial Library is the only repository in the world where books are placed spines inside to preserve the ancient decorations of the bindings. Pope Gregory XIII once decreed that anyone who stole a book from the Royal Library would be permanently excommunicated. When you are in the library, raise your head to look at the ceiling. It metaphorically depicts sciences and arts (rhetoric, music, mathematics, astronomy...).

If you want to relax in the fresh air, then go to a large area called "lonha", here you can sit in the shade of trees. And going a little further into the flowering gardens, you will enjoy a beautiful view of the fields, mountains and the city. Here you will also see the sculpture of the monarch, as if looking with pleasure at the great work of the best sculptors and architects of his time.

If you have a little more time...

Philip's chair (Silla de Felipe II). Among the oaks and maples of the Sierra de Guadarrama you will find the best viewpoint. Ask the staff at the information desk to give you a map with the indicated road leading to Philip's chair, from where he oversaw the construction of the monastery. From here, truly wonderful views of the mountains and the monastery complex open up.