The complex gets its name from a rather fun story involving our friend Felipe the II and his desire to crush his enemies while glorifying the name of God. On St Lawrence’s Day, August 10th, 1557, Felipe II led his armies into battle against the French in the Battle of St Quentin. Before the battle, the King had made a promise to God that if he would aide him in conquering his enemies, he would construct a grand monastery in honor of St Lawrence. For those of you who may not remember the finer points of your Spanish history lessons, the Spanish won that particular battle and as such, San Lorenzo De El Escorial was announced, planned and eventually built.
The location chosen for the mammoth of a palace was occupied by several little villages that comprised the hamlet of El Escorial, hence the second half of the name. The residents were “compelled” to relocate and in less than 21 years, the entire complex, consisting of a full scale monastery, basilica, royal palace and mausoleum, was complete.
The train ride was only an hour and cost under 8 euro, so visiting this place was not only cheap, but it was easy. The only drawback to taking the train was the fact that the monastery is about at 20 minute, uphill walk away. Normally this would be no problem, but because I fail at remembering that EVERYTHING in Spain is built on a hill, I was wearing my flip-flops. Anyway, I eventually made it to the palace and right from my first sighting, I was awestruck.
Dome and spires of El Escorial
After gawking at the exterior for a good 10 minutes, I decided to head inside. When I got my ticket, I mentioned I was an English teacher and got a discount, yet again. Ah the perks of being a volunteer… As I did in the Royal Palace at Madrid, I decided to go with the audio guide because my ticket was so cheap. This, again, turned out to be an excellent decision as many of the descriptions were only in Spanish. In the times when this palace was used as a place of residence among other things, nearly every space fulfilled some kind of purpose. Today, however, many of those purposes have become obsolete and so they have turned much of the basement into a tapestry, art and architecture museum. For those of you who know me well, or have been following my blog, probably know that discovering this made me almost jump for joy. Seeing how the place was constructed was so cool and the art housed here is truly top notch. Sadly, they had just about as many guards patrolling the halls here as at the Prado museum so I was only able to snag a few photos.
One of the original concept models for the palace. The main dome and two spires in the center are the entrance and ceiling of the basilica.
Beautiful painting of one of the many Spanish queens who have called this place home.
Fountain head in one of the many courtyards scattered throughout the place.
After the museums, it was on to the Hall of Battles which is an amazingly long hallway that has frescoes on both walls and the ceiling. On the windowed wall, nine different battles against the Moors are depicted on the walls between the windows. On the opposite wall, one continuous fresco represents the various battles against the French, one of which resulted in the building of this beautiful place.
The Hall of Battles. It is kind of hard to tell, but the frescoes are actually painted to look like tapestries and even bend around door frames and have nails painted in the corners.
Cool view of the garden from one of the windows on the way to the Hall of Battles.
From there, it was on to the living quarters of Philippe the II and his wife Isabella. There was no way I was getting photos in there as they had guards in every room. That being said, there was one thing I found really cool about their bedrooms. Both of them had studies and beautiful views of the gardens like most royalty. But these two also had their own private oratories attached to their bedrooms from which they could see the main altar of the basilica. Philippe’s was on one side and Isabella’s, on the other. Through a six pained glass door, I could see right into the main altar which was really cool. So basically, these two could attend church without ever leaving their bedrooms, or having to deal with the townsfolk.
The bedrooms led to a series of chambers that were used for a number of different purposes such as meeting subjects, providing instruction to the palace guards and even a leisure gallery which was used by the King and his family when they relaxed together in the afternoons. This room had amazing views of the surrounding country and a few curiosities that interested the King.
View of a distant lake from the Leisure Gallery
This is a kind of modified sundial which, when operational, corresponds to a long, slate slap that is inlaid in the marble floor and at midday shows the current sign of the zodiac.
This is the slate slab and my personal sign, Taurus.
Next up were the Pantheons. The first was the one constructed for the actual Monarchs and was done all in gold, black marble and red jasper. Every Spanish monarch for the past 500 years is buried here. This place was truly stunning and I was, of course, unable to get a picture. If you would like to get an idea of what it looked like though, scroll down until you see the main altar of the basilica and should help. From this first chamber, the hallways lead to nine other chambers that housed the all of the princes and princesses since Philippe’s time. It was truly something to behold as there was a clear effort to take just as good a care of the dead as there was to take care of the living. Everything was decked out in marble and gold and was elaborately decorated with little flourishes on every surface. The Pantheons eventually led back upstairs to the Chapter Halls which provided access to the cloister, the main staircase, and the basilica.
Entrance to the Pantheon of the Kings
Amazing marble sculpture in the Pantheon of the Princes.
One of the Chapter halls which housed several works by El Greco and Velásquez
The Cloister here was really something to behold. All along the walls, large panel frescos had been done which chronicled the major events in Christian history and mythology from the birth of the Virgin to the final judgment by the Savior. Each one was truly its own work of art, and together it was a little overwhelming. I actually ended up walking the square twice just to take it all in. The only disappointing thing was that the arches looking into the garden had been sealed off to protect the paintings, so you could not look into the Pantheon of the Evangelists.
The Cloister. Those are some random monks and parishioners walking down the hall after a service.
One of the little rooms just off from the cloister was actually the former church where a large altar depicted the martyrdom of St Lawrence through a series of paintings. I think his story is one of the best I had heard so far. Apparently, St. Lawrence had upset a particular Roman general so much, that the general had a gridiron forged, upon which, St. Lawrence would be cooked/burned alive. St. Lawrence is reported to have cried out at one point during his martyrdom, “You best turn me over as this side is nearly well done.” Now that’s my kind of guy. He is looking death in the face, but he still has not lost his sense of humor.
The Former Church
The Cloister also connected you to the main staircase and on the ceiling of this space was one of the most amazing frescoes I have ever seen. It depicted the ascension of the Spanish Monarchy into heaven. You can see several allusive images that compare the Spanish queen to the Virgin Mary and the other family members to various Catholic Saints. The colors were so vibrant and breathtaking; you would have sworn it was just completed that morning. The audio guide informed me that this particular fresco was completed in record time and involved surprisingly little upkeep.
The amazing fresco. You can actually see El Escorial in the middle of the right edge.
The tour then led into the basilica which was simply amazing. Rather than bore you with a long winded description here and make you wait to see the pictures, I am just going to describe each picture in depth below.
Candles lit to signify that a parishioner is praying for someone or something in particular.
Open treasury housing several vases, golden crosses, jewel encrusted gloves and other elaborate religious artifacts.
The Main Altar. Okay so this thing was HUGE. That is all jasper, black marble and gold. In all, there are 15 gold plated, bronze statues and nine paintings and that does not even include the side chapels. Also, notice that fresco on the ceiling? There are four others just like it in this place and all of them were done in less than a year.
Central dome and three of the five frescoes.
Okay so I know these are not the best pictures in the world, but I really liked what they were of. These little chapels flanked the main entrance to the basilica and one was to honor the Virgin Mary and the other to honor the crucified Christ. Funny story about the Christ chapel. Obviously it gets its name from the large marble statue of the Savior being crucified which is done in a style similar to Michael Angelo's. Well, keeping with that style, this statue is actually fully nude, but he is wearing a small linen wrap around his man business so as to keep him church appropriate. Don't even worry about it, they had a small model of this statue in the gift shop and it came with its own little linen wrap so that he would be modest enough for display in your home.
The main entrance of the basilica actually opens up onto a large courtyard right in the center of the Monastery called the Patio of the Kings. That is pictured below along with some other pictures of my last stop on the tour, the Library. Let me just warn you that I loved this room. I was so amazing. Seriously Mom and Dad, it would have made you both cry. One day when I am rich and famous, I want to have a library like this one.
Basilica front from the Patio of the Kings. The figures depicted there are the 6 kings of Judah
The Library. The center was lined with old globes of the earth and heavens and cases of old coins and medals. The walls were obviously lined with books.
The ceiling and cap arches depicted 9 different liberal arts. Sorry the coloring is so different, this place was really hard to capture. Imagine something of a mix of these two images.
This globe was constructed to prove that the Earth was indeed the center of the universe.
My favorite liberal art, music.
Looking through the key hole into a room just off of the library.
With all of the areas visited, I returned my audio guide and attempted to exit the building, but I of course got lost. It was all good though as I got some really cool pictures that I would not have otherwise.
Interior of a cloister that is not on the main tour. The paintings depicted battles of some kind that were being watched over my heavenly beings.
View of the main spires of the Basilica.
Once I finally found my way out of the Palace, I decided to take a little walk around the perimeter and some of the grounds. The Huerta de Los Frailes had an almost other worldly feel too it. Dozens of tree lined paths crisscrossed all through what seemed like acres and acres of land. The particular path that I chose eventually led to the Casita del Principe which had its own neatly manicured gardens.
Main entrance to the Palace. If you look closely, you will see that the crest of the region actually has a gridiron on it in honor of St Lawrence. That lone statue is of him, and he too is holding a gridiron.
The little town that has cropped up around El Escorial is quaint and mainly caters to tourists but it was a nice little place with a Jackson Hole/Sun Valley kind of vibe.
The Huerta de Los Frailes
View of the Palace from the park.
The Casita actually had tours and when I asked about attending one, the woman looked at me as though I was insane. After a few seconds of awkward silence, she explained that the tours were only offered in Spanish and that I would not be able to understand much. When I told her I was mainly interested in just seeing the house, she informed me that there was much more to see around the palace and the other Casita and that I should not waste my time with a tour that I could not understand. Rather than protest, I decided to just wait for when I am here with my family, but the whole experience made me laugh nonetheless.
Casita de Principe
Beautiful hydrangeas in the gardens (and yes, I did have to make sure that's what these flowers were called)
Rose garden and Juniper arch at the Casita de Principe
Painting the roses red!
No idea what this one is called, but it was cool so here it is.
Rear garden gate.
With the southern park done, I headed back up towards the monastery and toured the gardens that surrounded the palace. These gardens were very different from those at The Huerta de los Frailes and I liked that. Here, the focus seemed to be more on minimal care, design and structure as opposed to the other gardens which were more organic, though still orderly. These gardens also provided great views of the palace and the surrounding town.
Western wall and garden of El Escorial.
Just one section of the palace gardens
Because everyone needs an inaccessible orange tree, right?
I love nicely trimmed hedges.
Beautiful houses just beyond the Palace walls.
View of the Basilica from the gardens.
This photo is included for one reason, and one reason only: to show that this place had GREEN shutters!
My last stop of the day was the Casita de Arriba. Just like the Casita de Principe and the monastery gardens, this garden had its own personality and feel. Here, there was very much a feeling of grandeur and opulence though this may have just been because of the fact that you had a great view of the palace from this particular garden. I ended up taking a different route back to the city center which was nice because I got to see a little bit more of this cute little town.
El Escorial on the way to Casita de Arriba
Little did I know that it was actually fall in this part of Spain.
I really like this picture for some reason.
Casita de Arriba
Yeah, I don't know what these were called either.
El Escorial from Casita de Arriba
Main entrance to Casita de Arriba
My first thought when I saw these flowers was, "Poppies, poppies... Poppies will put them sleep."
Cool fountain in one of the town squares.
Better view of the San Lorenzo Crest. See the gridiron in the center?
I want South Jordan to have lampposts like this.
This is the little train station I ended up waiting at for over an hour because our train was delayed, I think they were just waiting to get as many riders as possible as this was the last train to Madrid that night.
1 comments:
Love. These. Pictures. For real. Especially the one with the fall colors. I want them for my own. You remember the color of the shutters? That's what I am right now.
...What is the history of that saying anyway? Green with envy? It really makes no sense.
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