Royal palace and Monastery of El Escorial Spain. Video Guide

The Royal Monastery of San Lorenzo de El Escorial, the 8th wonder of the world since the late 16th century. This status has later been attributed to sites like the Taj Mahal, the Statue of Liberty or the Great Wall of China. Exceptional works which were ahead of their times and like El Escorial were extremely influential. This building marked the transition from the plateresque style to an austere classicism, a stripped-down aesthetic that gives it a unique beauty and a sober yet impressive monumental quality. Look at your screen. The floor plant of the building, shaped like a grill, refers to the Martyrdom of St. Lawrence, supposedly roasted on a gridiron. On the handle of the grill is the Palace of the Austrians, attached to the Basilica. On the opposite side, where we will begin the tour, the library. And on the sides, the school to the northwest and the monastery to the southeast. This is a type of building almost exclusively found on the Iberian Peninsula. While you walk to the Courtyard of the Kings, here is some background on the Escorial. Most of its history is intertwined with the life of Philip II, the son and heir of the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V. They were both buried here more than five centuries ago. On August 10, 1557, St. Lawrence's Day, the troops of the newly proclaimed King Philip II faced the French army in the famous Battle of St. Quentin. The young monarch, as a man of faith, attributed this decisive victory to God and ordered the construction of the Escorial in gratitude to St. Lawrence. The great work of the Escorial took nearly thirty years to complete. In this period, Philip II had four wives and eight children, of whom only two survived. This majestic building of over 30,000 square meters was originally isolated in the natural setting of the flank of Mount Abantos, with no nearby villages. This was the main entrance to the building. You can get your bearings by looking east to the Basilica. The history of this monastery palace is not just the story of the royal family. According to chroniclers of the time, this huge project cost 6.2 million ducats and involved mobilizing resources on a colossal scale. As you can imagine, this inspired criticism as well as praise. A total of 3,000 workers were employed on the site, and the materials were sourced locally, such as the granite used throughout the building, from the nearby quarries in Avila and the Sierra de Guadarrama mountains. Stone by stone, the symmetrical composition took shape. The so-called gold brick, which reflects the sunlight on the brightest days, adds a slight touch of color to this harmonious gray. It is located a few centimeters below the highest point of the monastery. In fact, it is a metal plaque inscribed with a prayer in Latin, asking for God to protect the building from lightning, which often caused fires before the invention of the lightning conductor. Behind this plaque are relics of saints regarded as special protectors, such as St. Lawrence and St. Barbara. The courtyard is a good example of the classic aesthetic and proportions of the building, which was designed by two Renaissance architects, Juan Bautista de Toledo, called on by the king after having worked with Michelangelo at the Vatican, and his student, Juan de Herrera, who took up the task after the death of his mentor. The entrance to the basilica features symbolic elements. The courtyard of the kings is named for the statues of six kings of the tribe of Judah, chosen for their participation in the Temple at Jerusalem. The library is where we can best understand the intentions behind the building, constructed to honor the monarchy, the faith, the sciences and the arts, four pillars which could not be divided. The door in Precious Woods, which today we enter freely, attests to the honor and commitment that going through it used to mean. The papal bull inscribed on the wood threatens excommunication for anyone who dares to steal any of the valuable collections gathered here by Philip II and his successors. Inside the library, portraits of Philip II and the other Habsburg monarchs occupy the gaps between the bookshelves. The portraits of Philip and his father Charles V were painted by Juan Pantoja de la Cruz. The one of the Holy Roman Emperor Charles is a copy of an original by Titian. Go to the end of the room and get a good view of the spectacular vaulted ceiling, 54 meters long. The frescoes are by the Italian Pellegrino Tibaldi, who was inspired by the work of Michelangelo in the Sistine Chapel. The iconography relates to human knowledge. It may have been planned by Fray José de Següenza. In the center axis, seven matrons personify the seven liberal arts studied in universities at the time. Grammar, rhetoric, and logic, together known as the Trivium, followed by arithmetic, music, geometry, and astrology, making up the Quadrivium. The Basilica is a masterpiece of Spanish Renaissance architecture and is the core or hub of the building, on the central axis of the monastery. It is still used for religious ceremonies, so it is sometimes closed to the public. It is made of granite blocks, and the Greek cross plan forms a square whose sides are 50 meters long. This monastery is one of the earliest and most important buildings to follow the precepts established in Trent on architecture and religious images. The dome is very similar to that of St. Peter's in the Vatican, in Rome. In fact, it is not a dome in the strict sense, but a circular lantern tower. At 92 meters tall, it is the highest point in the monastery. As well as the eighth wonder, Philip II also wanted the Escorial to be a reliquary of reliquaries. This emphasized the importance of the veneration of saints, which was rejected in Protestantism. The monarch placed up to 7,000 relics in two reliquary cabinets on either side of the stairs leading to the main altar. Most of them are bones and fragments of cloth used by Christians thought to have been martyred in pagan antiquity, but there are also relics of saints who lived in the Middle Ages. The precious reliquaries holding them were looted during the French invasion, so only 300 still survive. The reliquary on the right is of men and consecrated to St. Jerome, and on the left of women, consecrated to the Annunciation. Behind them are respectively the apartments of the king and the queen. This meant the king could open a back door to the cabinet and take relics into his oratory for prayer as he often did, especially when he had to settle important matters of state. The Ormolu royal cenotaphs on both sides of the main altar are by Pompeo Leoni and pay homage to the families of Charles V on the left and Philip II on the right. Although they are funerary monuments, their subjects are actually buried in the family tombs underneath the presbytery. On the left, Charles V is depicted in armor and with a cloak displaying the two-headed eagle of his coat of arms. Next to him, his wife Isabel of Portugal is praying. Behind them are his daughter Maria of Austria, Holy Roman Empress, who was finally buried in the convent of Las Descalzas Reales in Madrid, and his sisters, Mary of Hungary and Eleanor of Austria. The same structure is repeated on the other cenotaph. Philip II wears the armor in which he fought the Battle of St. Quentin. He also wears a cloak with his crest. To his right, we see Anna of Austria, his fourth wife and the mother of Philip III. Behind them are his third wife, Isabel de Valois, and his first wife, Maria Manuela, Princess of Portugal. They are also accompanied by Carlos, Prince of Asturias, his first-born son, who died young. Curiously, the king's second wife is missing from the group, Maria Tudor, Queen of England, who is buried in Westminster Abbey in London. The stairs between the lower and upper cloister is interesting for its exceptionally austere architectural style. However, the ceiling over it is one of the most opulent creations of the Baroque. The frescoes are by Luca Giordano and represent the glory of the Spanish monarchy, or to be more exact, the glory of the Habsburg dynasty. It contains many references beginning with the Sea of Clouds. Where the light is most intense, the Holy Trinity is shown on a throne, and to its right, the Virgin dressed in blue. Below this is St. Lawrence with the gridiron of his martyrdom at his feet. The patron saint of the monastery turns his back on us because he is interceding at the gates of heaven in favor of Charles V and Philip II, who are kneeling on a cloud to the right. Father and son wear the royal cloak, carry their crowns and hold the orb as an offering. The Neapolitan painter was inspired by Titian's Trinity in Glory, which was then in the monastery. This central group is accompanied by personifications of the many virtues of the royal family. But as well as the celestial scene, there is also the terrestrial. At the base of the vault is a balustrade where King Charles II, who commissioned the fresco from Giordano, leans out while he explains the meaning of the painting to his second wife, Maria Anna of Newburgh, and his mother, Marianna of Austria, in widow's weeds. Finally, Luca Giordano decorates the friezes of the staircase with motifs from the Battle of St. Quentin and the construction of the Monastery of El Escorial, all imitating tapestries nailed to the wall. In total, Giordano painted twelve ceilings at El Escorial and, surprisingly, only needed twenty-two months to do it. This was the reason for his nickname, Luca fa presto. Members of the royal family with the rank of Infante or Infanta are buried close to the great kings and queens of Spain. Usually, although not always, the title Infante is associated with the legitimate sons of the king who are not heirs to the throne. In 1862, Queen Isabella II planned the construction of a new space for this purpose, as the original pantheon of the princes built by Philip II was no longer sufficient. The present one is under the chapter houses, the sacristi and the antisacristi, and is one of the most recent settings of the royal monastery, created entirely in the 19th century. You can see its decorative details while you walk to the children's mausoleum. The walls and ceilings of the passageways are clad in white marble from Carrara and Florence. In contrast, the ceilings of the tombs are granite, with painted and gilded plaster additions. Where the vaults of the ceilings meet, there are coats of arms of the different royal families. The last burial chamber is one of the most richly decorated, and is also where we can most easily understand the criteria for deciding where the members of the royal family would be interred. One of the most interesting tombs is that of Princess Luisa Carlotta of Naples and Sicily, the wife of Francisco de Paula, brother of Ferdinand VII. Over the white tomb is an ormolu sculpture of the princess by Ponciano Ponzano. This tomb was in the basilica, but was moved here on the orders of Isabella II. The lack of space was one of the reasons prompting the queen to build this new pantheon. The reclining statue covered with a shroud is of Maria de las Mercedes, princess of Asturias, the eldest daughter of Alphonse XII. Finally, we found the tomb of the Duke and Duchess of Montpensier and their daughters. The altarpiece is the Descent from the Cross by Carlo Veronese. We are now entering one of the most famous places in the monastery of El Escorial, the Royal Pantheon. The impressive 24-arm bronze chandelier is by the Genoese sculptor Virgilio Fanelli. The Ormolu Crucifixion by Domenico Guidi is astonishing. The copper tones, with the pink marbles from Tarragona and grey marbles from Toledo, complete the solemn yet luxurious appearance of this space. The finest details of the decoration have been created with great care. Although Philip II had the original idea to build the Royal Pantheon here, the project could not be concluded until the reign of his grandson, Philip IV. Look to the left. One of these tombs is the resting place of the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, who had wanted to be buried in the monastery of Eustae, where he retired soon after abdicating. But in his will, he gave his son the freedom to choose where he would be buried. When Charles V died, the Pantheon of the Kings in the Royal Chapel of Granada Cathedral was full, so Philip II decided to build this new one, which would keep the remains of the dynasty much closer to Madrid, the capital of the kingdom. The crypt built in Eustae, a much smaller monastery than El Escorial, is only similar to this one in its location. Both are just below the presbytery of the church. This complied with the wishes of the Emperor, who wanted the priest to symbolically tread on his heart and head when celebrating Mass. On the same left side, we see the name of a woman, Isabella II, daughter of Ferdinand VII. She is the only Queen of Spain in her own right of all the monarchs buried here. Her husband Francis, Duke of Cadiz, the father of Alfonso XII, is buried opposite her on the right, with the other royal consorts and mothers of kings. The kings and queens of Spain are interred here, except for the monarchs who preferred to be buried in other royal sites, such as Philip V at La Granja, or Ferdinand VI in the convent of the Saleses Reales in Madrid. Having seen more than three-fifths of this monastery palace, we will now go into the rooms which creator, Philip II, lived and died. He built these apartments to reflect the ones his father had built in the monastery of Eustae, with direct access to the chapel. Over the centuries, the original decoration has changed. The only space which has been left mostly untouched is the king's apartments. They consist of three rooms, made by dividing a square of nine meters each side. It was not until the early twentieth century when the apartments of Philip II were restored, with a decoration which seems austere considering he was the most powerful monarch in the world. In this first room, there is a set of devotional paintings, a type of art the king was extremely fond of. These include a Saint Christopher by Joachim Patinir on the right-hand wall looking into the garden. This type of work by the Flemish artist, immersed in a landscape, is closely linked to the place Philip II chose for El Escorial, a remote setting in direct contact with nature. In the small hours of September 13, 1598, at the age of 71, Philip II died here, after a long illness of fifty-three days. From his bed he could see, to the east, a spectacular view of his private garden, and to the north, through the doors of his oratory, the main altar of the Basilica. This arrangement is a copy of the bedroom of Charles V in the Monastery of Eustace. This is where Philip II wanted to die, and even though the doctors had forbidden him from travelling, in summer he arrived at San Lorenzo dell'Escorial, already very ill. As well as numerous religious images, this bedroom once displayed the Table of the Seven Deadly Sins by Hieronymus Bosch, now on loan to the Prado. As well as the Eighth Wonder, Philip II also wanted the Escorial to be a Reliquary of Reliquaries. This emphasized the importance of the veneration of saints, which was rejected in Protestantism. The monarch placed up to 7,000 relics in two reliquary cabinets on either side of the stairs leading to the main altar. Most of them are bones and fragments of cloth, used by Christians thought to have been martyred in pagan antiquity, but there are also relics of saints who lived in the Middle Ages. The precious reliquaries holding them were looted during the French invasion, so only 300 still survive. The reliquary on the right is of men and consecrated to St. Jerome, and on the left of women, consecrated to the Annunciation. Behind them are respectively the apartments of the King and the Queen. This meant the King could open a back door to the cabinet and take relics into his oratory for prayer, as he often did, especially when he had to settle important matters of state. They are open to the public only on November 1st, All Saints' Day. Most of the reliquaries now here were made by metalworkers employed by the royal household, and are of different types. There are interesting heads of saints in bronze, copper gilt, and even silver, depicting their martyrdom with great realism. Others have clear glass insets that let us see the relics. There are also exceptional pieces like the one made in Florence, a gift from the Dukes of Mantua. This curious passageway, like almost everything in this monastery palace, is designed to remind us of the great military triumphs of the Habsburgs and their ancestors. Although all the chroniclers praised this room, none explained its use. Of course, it has an enormous symbolic value and a tremendous impact on the visitor, and this was an area that official visitors and ambassadors would have to pass through on their way to an audience with the monarch. It is the largest and most luxurious room in the palace, and is completely covered in wall paintings by Italian artists. The photos identify some of the tiny battle scenes. After the death of Charles II and the change of dynasty, the Bourbon monarchs continued to come to this monastery palace. The first Bourbon, Philip V, did not make major changes at El Escorial, as he was concentrating on the construction of the new royal palace of Madrid as a symbol of the legitimacy of the new dynasty, and the royal site of La Granja de San Ildefonso, where he decided to build another palace with gardens in the style of the French court where he had been born and brought up. The seasons the court spent here at San Lorenzo were established by his son, Charles III. The new residence began with this staircase by Juan Villanueva, the architect who worked for Charles IV during the phase of the greatest stylistic changes. In fact, the present layout dates from the time of Charles IV and his wife, Maria Luisa of Parma. Their portraits greet us on the first landing, copies from the workshop of Francisco de Goya. This space divided the palace of the Bourbons, with the apartments to the left and to the right the large banqueting hall. Let's look in here for a moment. In the era of Charles IV, in the palace where a dining table now stands, there was a billiards table. This was the first space in a modern royal residence where no expense was spared, and like any house, its decoration and layout have changed considerably over time. To see for yourself, let's start our tour of the apartments. Go through the vestibule again to reach the antechamber. At present, the Bourbon palace is made up of spaces with the strong neoclassical influence of the early 19th century, when Ferdinand VII, who was born in this palace on October 14, 1784, changed the decoration of the times of Charles III and Charles IV. Among other things, he changed the order of the magnificent collection of nearly 300 tapestries commissioned by his ancestors. These hangings were ideal for covering the walls of the monarch's apartments in autumn, when the royal family stayed at El Escorial. As well as warming the rooms, they represented all the value of the work of the Real Fabrica de Tapices, founded by Philip V. This tradition of commissioning rich tapestries had continued since the times of the Habsburgs, but at first they were made in Flanders, which then belonged to the crown. When Spain lost those territories in 1713, Philip V decided to create the Real Fabrica de Tapices de Santa Barbara, a tapestry workshop in Madrid. During the reign of Ferdinand VII, this was the bedroom of his daughter, the future Isabella II, when she was still Princess of Asturias, the title given to the heir of the Spanish throne. But the present decoration has nothing to do with the bedroom of a princess. The notable tapestries on a hunting theme were created for El Escorial in the time of Charles III. Hunting was the main subject of many of the tapestries commissioned by the king specifically for this monastery palace. This location was chosen for its attractive scenery and the area was ideal for royal hunting parties. It also offered fresh air and very good quality water. Like most tapestries, these ones are based on cartoons commissioned from great artists. These cartoons were paintings on thick paper or card, which in Italian is cartone. This room looks quite different from all the others. Its unique look is due to the tapestries in the Pompeian style, which was very popular for a while in the neoclassical period. They were inspired by the many decorative motifs discovered in the Italian archaeological sites of Pompeii and Herculaneum, encouraged by Charles III, who was then king of Naples. Thanks to these ruins, 18th century artists were able to recover and adapt the style of these cities of ancient Rome, buried by the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 Common Era. Once again we find a room with hunting-themed tapestries created especially for El Escorial in the time of Charles III. On this occasion, they are based on cartoons by the great Francisco de Goya. The name of the room is also interesting. In the 19th century, it began to be called the King's Tramcar due to its long shape, similar to a tram carriage. This room was originally a space separating the king's and queen's apartments. To the left is the toilet, with a neoclassical wall painting with candelieri, a type of decorative style that emerged in Italy around the time of the Renaissance, inspired by classical antiquity and became fashionable again in the neoclassical period. As you can see in the photos, it combined different types of plant forms. To the side, there is a beautiful empire-style dressing table in mahogany with ormolu decorations. This room features neo-Gothic furniture made by Angel Maeso in 1832, and a ceiling painting by Felipe López from 1829. There is a notable tapestry, the Wild Boar Hunt, based on a cartoon by Goya, which is in the Royal Palace of Madrid. This audience room connects the last four rooms in the Palace of the Bourbons in the Monastery of El Escorial, and the whole suite is known as the Fine Wood Cabinet. The furniture was created from 1794 to 1831.