8th Wonder of the World

Some said that this huge building, built in 1563 -83 by Philip II to bury his father the Holy Roman emperor Charles V, was the 8th WoW. In this case it probably was. Phil was helped in his decision by the codicil in his dad's will for the establishment of a religious foundation in which he was to be buried beside his wife, Isabella of Portugal.
In 1560 a rectangular area (226m × 177m) with a royal apartments area to the east (40m × 55m) site was chosen near Madrid at the foot of the Guadarrama Mountains, 2 km from the town of El Escorial.
The new monastery was named San Lorenzo el Real del Escorial, after St Lawrence of Rome, a martyr of supposed Hispanic origin, and was intended to serve as the royal pantheon. Or maybe it was dedicated to San Lorenzo de la Victoria, in fulfillment of a vow made by Philip II to atone for the destruction of a church dedicated to St Lawrence at the Battle of San Quintín in 1557.
Within its walls as well as a Monastery,(originally Hieronymite,) is fitted the Royal Palace, a Basilica, a Pantheon and a Seminary. All of these were designed at the same time by the same firm. The first architect, Juan Bautista de Toledo, designed the ground plan on a gridiron scheme, recalling the grill on which San Lorenzo, the patron of the building, was martyred. Unfortunately he died after setting out most of the work and his pupil Juan de Herrera took up work on the project. He was so good at it that the style they developed is called "Herrerian".
His symbolic blending of Faith and Reason, the former in the church and monastery and the latter in the geometry of the site, was modern at the time and reflects the rise of Humanism in Spain. Looking at the plan of the building, you can easily see how the 4 quarters fit together in combinations of square, triangles (3/4/5 and isosceles,) and circles.
The part I like is the monastic simplicity of the structure. Mostly plain stonework and simple repeated patterns all in proportion to one another.
Did I say it was big? 15 cloisters, 13 oratories, 86 staircases, 88 fountains, more than 1,600 paintings, nine towers and 73 sculptures. Big enough. Czytaj więcej