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El Escorial | Madrid, Spain

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#1 · (Edited)





Exterior view of Monastery/Palace complex built by King Philip II




Interior plaza



Library





Church



Panteón Real







Sala de las Batallas



Other rooms



 
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#12 ·
Reported from a duplicate thread.





El Escorial is found 50 Km northwest of Madrid (don’t worry it is very easy to get there whether by train or bus. A three part fortress/monument (a palace, a monastery and one of the best stocked libraries in the world and it), it commands the town and the neighboring region for its impressive structure covering a rectangular area of over 30,000 square meters. OK! Just to give you an idea, El Escorial has 9 towers, 9 organs, 16 patios, 73 statues, 86 sets of stairs, 88 fountains, 300 cells, 1,200 widows (told ya!), more than 1,600 paintings, 2673 doors, and we did not tell you all (we would not spoil the surprise).

Its history is just as impressive. Built to honor San Lorenzo (St. Lawrence) after having defeated the French on that day (August 10th, 1557), King Philip II charged his scholars to find a place to build it. This happened to be a plateau where a poor small village lay. Five years later construction began, and the town and the Castle/monastery has undergone many political and demographic changes; beginning with the ruling that the town was given the title of Villa and was carved out of the jurisdiction of Segovia, to which it belonged.
El Escorial was built with the idea to maintain the simetry and austerity, while showing forth might and power of the crown of Spain under divine guidance. At the entrance of the Patio of the Kings, the antechamber of eternity, sculptures of the Kings of Judea who brought Israel back to the service of God preside in a majestic reminder.

 
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