San Lorenzo de Escorial

Situated toward the northwest of Madrid, at the foot of the Guadarrama moutains, there is a place called San Lorenzo de Escorial. About two weeks ago I traveled there with two of my fellow language tutors to visit the famed El Escorial of Phillip II

The trip there revealed an amazing glimpse of the mountain communities the surround the outskirts of Madrid. I live in Las Rozas, a suburb outside Madrid, and El Escorial sits at the end of the Renfe (railway) line that I usually take to get into the city. It was funny to see how different the geography was just 20 minutes away from a place Ive lived for more than a month.  

The city that surrounds the Escorial is a small town named San Lorenzo. The communities along the train lines looked much smaller and reflected a more country feel to them. It made sense, this would be the site of Phillip II's massive monastery/  palace/ school because even with gigantic nature of the grounds the surrounding countryside seemed quiet and peaceful. 

El Escorial was built by Phillip II, son of Charles V. After Charles died, Phillip became one of the most powerful men in the world with an Empire that held possessions in most modern european countries as well as holdings in North and South America. With the new gold from the conquered South American empires, Phillip financed his own personal mega palace in the hills.

El Escorial was known for its grandeur and Phillip made sure to commit its building to bringing all the glory of Spanish power into one area. A lot of the major art pieces Spain is known for were housed here at one point and many more were commissioned for the sole purpose of decorating Phillip's Escorial.

The grounds are huge and only a small portion are opened to the public. We spent nearly three hours there and we we only explored about 20% of it. Sticking with Phillips original intention, the rest of the structure is used as a monastery, functioning church, university, library, and museum 

Although El Escorial is a palace of grand stature, the structure of the outside seemed to be very solemn. In its defense it was very cloudy that day, however the outside still seemed to reflect its monastery function more than anything else.

Keeping to this solemn nature the lower passages were very dark and simple. 

As if to answer any doubts that Phillip I failed to understand how to decorate his palace, we found our way to the necropolis and Pantheon of the Kings. This golden passage led to a rounded room filled with 26 marble sepulchers of most the the kings and queens of Spain after Phillip I. The room was amazingly eerie and beautiful with gold and fine marble ordaning every part of the 20 by 20 ft room. As usual we were closely watched by a security guard so there was no opportunity to take a photograph, but the memory of seeing Charles V and Phillip I's final resting place is something I will not forget. 

The rest of tour was just as impressive with seemingly endless passages of tombs and coffins of the Spanish royal families of the Bourbon, and Hapsburg dynasties  Each grouping had different styles of marble and gold decoration.

     These passages were followed up be an even greater collection of artwork and religious relics in the rooms of the Palace section of El Escorial (photos not allowed).  It was incredible to see how much art and random precious things rich people like a Spanish Emperor could collect. I especially liked the collection of maps in one of the rooms of the palace. The various cartographers, time periods and styles made a great visual of how Europe's perception of the world evolved.

"My Meta Moment"

Of all the wonderful things I've seen this trip, I had a big connection with El Escorial. In the amazing domed Basilica, on the final half hour in El Escorial, I realized that this was one of the first interesting pieces of world history that I remembered reading about it and making connection beyond simple remember of facts. Before my 7th grade World History class with Ms. La Motte, I was familiar the simplistic children story of Christopher Columbus's discovery of the "New World" as the beginning of the United States History narrative.  Further along my education I learned more of the story as Cortez, Conquistadors and Aztecas were introduced. However, in my 7th grade world history class I learned about Emperor Phillip II and his Escorial. The description of a giant grill shaped palace/ monastery  college peaked my interest and made realize the wider scope of history.   History was transformed from legend as the magical image of  shinning gold changed into an economic metal that could pay for a random beast of a Palace in thousands of miles across the sea in Spain. I learned that the ships of the Spanish Conquistadors went somewhere with the gold and hadn't just sunk to the bottom of some random part of the ocean to become legend. Escorial,Columbus, Cortez, and the Aztec were apart of a bigger story; A world story that I wanted to know more about and understand. 

And I'm still learning more everyday.. 

Next Time Granada!