Escorial – the sample of architectural thinking

Escorial – the sample of architectural thinking

Escorial is located not far from Madrid. It is a huge complex including the residence of Spanish kings, cathedral and monastery. This magnificent building is situated only 45 km from the capital.
Escorial has a very interesting story. It was conceived as a monument to the greatness of Spanish weapon, built as a monastery, and resulted to be a royal residence. The devout king of Spain Philip II promised the God to build the greatest monastery in exchange for the victory in the battle against the French troops. Surprisingly, the victory was granted to the king, and he immediately started the preparation for the construction. The building of Escorial started in 1563, and finished in 1584. The main architect was Juan Batista de Toledo, the apprentice of Michelangelo. The complex represents a large rectangle, divided into the squares, which embodies the roaster, where San Lorenzo died (Escorial was devoted to this saint).
Upon the request of Philip II, the kings and queens o Spain were buried in Escorial. Later on, the special pantheon was built for this purpose. We should note that the monarchs, who didn’t manage to sit on the throne, also find their eternal peace here.
Escorial is worth visiting not only for its beautiful appearance and interesting history. This complex is famous for its museums. The first one is entirely devoted to the history of this architectural complex and includes a lot of documents documentation for its building, and the second one represents the collection of paintings of the famous artists. The museum stores more than 1600 paintings, including the masterworks of Veronese, Van Dyck, Tintoretto, Goya, Bosch and other great painters.
Moreover, Escorial is famous for its excellent library that stores the records of St. Teresa, Alfonso the Wise, St. Augustine and other rare manuscripts. It is interesting that in this library the backs of the books are put to the inside to keep the bindings, decorated with the ancient masters. By the way, the library of Escorial is second only to the Vatican one in the number of the ancient books.
Have a pleasant trip!