El Escorial
These sites have a dual nature: during the 16th and 17th centuries, they were places in which the power of the Spanish monarchy and the ecclesiastical predominance of the Roman Catholic religion in Spain found a common architectural manifestation.The grill-like shape, which did not fully emerge until Juan de Herrera eliminated from the original conception the six interior towers of the façade, was not unique to El Escorial.Statues of David and Solomon on either side of the entrance to the basilica of El Escorial lend further weight to the theory that this is the true origin of the design.Echoing the same theme, a fresco in the center of El Escorial's library, a reminder of Solomon's legendary wisdom, affirms Philip's preoccupation with the great Jewish king, his thoughtful and logical character, and his extraordinary, monumental temple.[17]The Temple of Solomon design,[18] if indeed it was the basis for El Escorial, was extensively modified to accommodate the additional functions Philip II intended the building to serve.Built primarily from locally quarried gray granite,[6] square and sparsely ornamented, El Escorial is austere, even forbidding, in its outward appearance, seemingly more like a fortress than a monastery or palace.At each of the four corners is a square tower surmounted by a spire, and, near the center of the complex (and taller than the rest), rise the pointed belfries and round dome of the basilica.Philip's instructions to Juan Bautista de Toledo were simple and clear, directing that the architects should produce "simplicity in the construction, severity in the whole, nobility without arrogance, majesty without ostentation.In it are displayed masterworks by Titian, Tintoretto,[9] Benvenuto Cellini, El Greco, Velázquez, Rogier van der Weyden, Paolo Veronese, Bernini, Alonso Cano, José de Ribera, Claudio Coello, and others.The main altarpiece is 30 metres (98 ft) high and divided into compartments of different sizes where are found bronze sculptures, and canvases by Pellegrino Tibaldi, Federico Zuccari, and Leone Leoni.[6] It is an octagonal Baroque mausoleum made of marble where all of the Spanish monarchs since Charles I have been buried, with the exception of Philip V, Ferdinand VI, and Amadeus of Savoy.In the East gallery, one finds the splendid main staircase with a fresco-decorated vaulted ceiling depicting The glory of the Spanish monarchy, painted by Luca Giordano in 1692.The Palace of the Austrians (Palacio de los Austrias), also known as the House of the King (Casa del Rey), is found behind the presbytery of the basilica.However, the Roman dome is supported by ranks of tapered Corinthian columns, with their extravagant capitals of acanthus leaves and their elaborately fluted shafts, while the dome at El Escorial, soaring nearly 100 metres (330 ft) into the air, is supported by four heavy granite piers connected by simple Romanesque arches and decorated by simple Doric pilasters, plain, solid, and largely unprepossessing.It would not be a flight of fancy to interpret St. Peter's as the quintessential expression of Baroque sensuality and the basilica at El Escorial as a statement of the stark rigidity and grim purposefulness of the Inquisition, the two sides of the Counter-Reformation.In a shallow niche at the center of the lowest level is the tabernacle, a repository for the physical elements of the communion ceremony, a so-called "House of the Sacrament", designed by Juan de Herrera in jasper and bronze.[25] Consequently, Philip consulted his foreign ambassadors for recommendations, and the result was a lengthy parade of the lesser European artists of that time, all swanning through the construction site at El Escorial seeking the King's favor.The remains of Alfonso XIII's wife, Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg were interred in the pantheon in 2011.The remains of Alfonso XIII's third son Infante Juan, Count of Barcelona, (d. 1993) and daughter-in-law Princess María de las Mercedes of Bourbon-Two Sicilies (d. 2000); (the father and mother of King Juan Carlos I), lie at a prepared place called a pudridero, or decaying chamber, awaiting interment in the Pantheon of the Kings.The younger brother of King Juan Carlos I, he was buried originally in Portugal, after being killed in a still-mysterious 1956 shooting at the family home in Estoril, aged 14.Manuel Azaña, the Socialist who served as the last president of the Second Spanish Republic, studied in the monastery's Augustinian-run school and mentions them in his Memorias (Memoirs) and his play El jardín de los frailes (The Garden of the Friars).The visitor must leave the noisy world behind and walk through the halls of knowledge in a specific, comprehensible order from concreteness to abstraction before being able to reach God and understand His message, a notion quite in line with both Charles I and Philip II's hermeticist view of religion.De Herrera and Italian construction engineer Giuseppe Flecha y Gamboa were careful to consider the security of the library's holdings in armarios (large bookcases), as well as their display, safeguards against fire hazards, and use of available natural lighting.[37] The vault of the library's ceiling is decorated with frescoes, painted by Pellegrino Tibaldi, depicting the seven liberal arts: grammar, rhetoric, dialectic, music, arithmetic, geometry, and astronomy.[38] Philip II donated his personal collection of documents to the building, and also undertook the acquisition of the finest libraries and works of Western European Humanism.During Phillip's reign, there was an entire room dedicated to ancient manuscripts, most of them in Latin, many in Greek, but also some in Hebrew, Aramaic, Arabic, Italian, French, and Spanish.Diego Guzmán de Silva was one such ambassador and made one of the most important purchases for the library during his time in Venice: an ancient collection of Greek manuscripts and Latin codices (1569–1577).At this point, the size of the library was such that Benito Arias Montano had to be specially hired to organize the books and classify them by language, in addition to subject.Philip acquired several books from the Library of Granada, that belonged to Isabella I of Castile, including her Libro de Horas of astonishing visual beauty.Arias Montano donated a large number of original Hebrew manuscripts, and Admiral Luis Fajardo brought back the complete Zaydani library captured during his wars with Sultan Muley Zidán.Following a rule approved by the Council of Trent dealing with the veneration of saints, Philip II donated to the monastery one of the largest reliquaries in all of Catholic Christendom.
El Escorial (disambiguation)Herrerian styleSan Lorenzo de El EscorialCoordinatesPatrimonio NacionalJuan Bautista de ToledoUNESCO World Heritage SitesessionEurope and North AmericaSpanish Cultural HeritageSpanishking of SpainEl EscorialMadridPhilip IIRenaissanceSpanish royal sitesLa Granjilla de La FresnedaRoman CatholicHieronymiteOrder of Saint AugustineSt. Peter's BasilicaNaplesUNESCOWorld Heritage SiteMount AbantosSierra de GuadarramaPhilip II of SpainBattle of St. QuentinPicardyHenry II of FranceOspedale MaggiorenecropolisCharles IIsabella of PortugalCounter-ReformationJuan de HerreraSpanish kingsBourbonsHabsburgsCharles VPhilip IIIPhilip IVCharles IILouis ICharles IIICharles IVFerdinand VIIIsabella IIAlfonso XIIAlfonso XIIIPhilip VFerdinand VIAmadeusSolomon's TempleSaint LawrenceKing's College, CambridgeAntonio FilareteAlcázar of SevilleAlhambraGranadabased on descriptionsTemple of SolomonFlavius JosephusSolomonbasilicaTitianTintorettoBenvenuto CelliniEl GrecoVelázquezRogier van der WeydenPaolo VeroneseBerniniAlonso CanoJosé de RiberaClaudio CoelloGiambattista CastellomanuscriptsZidan Abu MaaliMoroccokings of JudahGreek crossLuca GiordanoPellegrino TibaldiFederico ZuccariLeone LeonisacristyAmadeus of SavoyCount of BarcelonaJuan Carlos I of SpainIsabella Clara EugeniaLatin crossCorinthianflutedRomanesquepilastersBaroqueInquisitionreredosjasperPompeobronzeJacopo da TrezzoMichelangelofrescoHabsburgBourbonking consortFrancis of Asis de BourbonSanta Maria in MonserratoVictoria Eugenie of BattenbergInfante Juan, Count of BarcelonaPrincess María de las Mercedes of Bourbon-Two SiciliesJuan Carlos IQueen SofíaFelipe VIQueen Letiziade jureElisabeth of BourbonMaria Theresa of SpainToledoSagua La GrandeJohn of AustriaInfante AlfonsoEstoril