Victoria del Carmen Vázquez Usero 3|° B

Monastery Palace of Saint Lorenzo de El Escorial.

It was ordered to be built by Felipe II to house the mausoleum of his father Carlos I (and thus fulfill his will and
testament) himself and all the kings, queens and infants of Spain later.

It began in 1563 and was finished in 1584, although it continued to be decorated for some years and the Basilica
was consecrated in 1595.
The main architects were:
Juan Bautista de Toledo, who was an assistant to Miguel Angel in the Basilica of San Pedro in the Vatican. at his
death in 1567 the Italian Giovanni Battista Castello called IL Bergamasco was in charge and later his disciple Juan
de Herrera.
Felipe II dedicated it to San Lorenzo in commemoration of the Spanish victory in the Battle of San Quentin
that took place on August 10, 1557, the day of San Lorenzo.
An attempt was made to reproduce the Temple of Solomon, as a way of attracting the divine forces in which
Philip II believed. It has a hermetic geometric shape that is based on basic figures of square, circle and equilateral
triangle.
It is a huge building that has 33,327 square meters, made up of a royal palace, a monastery, a basilica, a library,
pantheons for kings and infants, gardens, a huge lagoon/pool, a multitude of rooms and even a small church
called "of on loan" a inside, which was used while was built.
And around the esplanade or Lonja that surrounds it there are multiple buildings that are related to it. such as
trade houses or stables among others.

The building has the shape of a double inverted grill, recalling the way in which the holy martyr died,
burned in a grill.

It has 4,000 rooms or rooms, 1,200 doors (some of them false, placed only for symmetry),
2,675 windows, 89 stairs, 15 cloisters, 16 patios, 88 fountains, 9 towers 55 m high,
some with curious names such as the Apothecary Tower, that of the Prior, of the Ladies
or that of the north of the Cierzo. In the courtyard of the kings there are 2 bell towers 72 m high
nd a dome 92 m high.

The whole building is like a big

museum with other museums inside.

At the entrance to the basilica in that courtyard there are

2 statues of Kings David and Solomon
on both sides of the door,
recalling the similarity with
the warrior king Carlos I
and the prudent King Felipe II.
In many areas of the building, a grill is carved, sculpted, embossed or painted to remind the person
to whom it is dedicated.

In 1671 a great fire destroyed a large part of the monastery, which Carlos II later rebuilt
adding the style of his time.

It houses one of the largest reliquaries in the world, with thousands of bones and relics of saints,
which are exposed to the public on All Saints' Day.

In the 16th century they called it the eighth wonder of the world, in fact since November 2, 1984 it
has been on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

One of my favorites is the room where the plans, models, machines and tools used in its
construction are displayed.
it is currently closed to the public