El Escorial
Philip II’s vast complex is at once monastery, palace, mausoleum and library. The granite-grey façade is almost entirely without decoration. Its austerity became a style of its own in Spain, named after the architect Herrera.
Philip II built El Escorial to celebrate his victory over the French at Saint-Quentin in 1557, a victory won on St Lawrence’s day. The complex was also to be a burial place for his father, Charles V, and the Spanish royal family. Work began in 1563 under Juan Bautista de Toledo, who had worked in Rome. After his death in 1567 his assistant Juan de Herrera took over, and the complex was completed in 1584. The king followed the work closely.
The plan is a large rectangle, about 200 by 160 metres, divided into courtyards. In the middle stands the church, a centrally planned building with a dome, and around it monastery, palace, school and library. The plan has been compared to a gridiron, St Lawrence’s instrument of martyrdom, but that comparison came later. The building is of grey granite, and the façades have very little ornament. This gave rise to the term estilo herreriano, the Herrerian style. The library has a vault painted by Pellegrino Tibaldi. Beneath the church lies the Pantheon of the Kings, where most Spanish kings since Charles V rest.
El Escorial was a centre of Spanish power and of the Counter-Reformation. The complex was ravaged by fire in 1671 but rebuilt. It holds a large art collection, including works by Titian, El Greco and Hieronymus Bosch. The monastery is run today by Augustinian monks. El Escorial became a World Heritage Site in 1984. Its austere classicism influenced Spanish architecture for a long time, including in the Spanish colonies in America.