When was el escorial built

The interior of the Escorial was decorated by many notable Spanish and Italian artists of the 16th and 17th centuries. Pellegrino Tibaldi and Federico Zuccaro were among the earliest painters to execute frescoes there.

An important collection of paintings by Renaissance and baroque artists donated by the crown is among the many artistic treasures housed in the complex. The decoration of El Escorial was carefully coordinated with the architecture to create a unified artistic effect. Philip was difficult to please, but there was a compelling aesthetic reason to restrict individual artistic expression at the Escorial. Decoration needed to be in keeping with the sober, unornamented classicism of the building if it was to bring the triumphant unity of the project to full expression.

Although a great lover of painting, Philip made his choices for the painted decoration of the Escorial in relation to the architecture and the sculpture, trying to commission as few artists as possible in order to preserve a homogeneous effect. El Escorial is also an enormous storehouse of art.

Located in the basement, the Museum of Architecture displays the different materials, machinery, tools, cranes, and plans used in the construction of the Monastery as well as scale models. The Garden of the friars located at the foot of the monastery, not only is that better retains its original appearance, but also the leading exponent of the concept that the King had gardening, which should provide visual beauty, as well as allowing the cultivation of vegetables and fruits.

Philip II donated to the monastery one of the largest reliquaries in all of Catholicism. The collection consists of some relics, which are stored in sculpted reliquaries designed by Juan de Herrera. These reliquaries are found in highly varied forms heads, arms, pyramidal cases, coffers, etc. It is a popular tourist attraction — more than , visitors come to El Escorial every year. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Silhouetted against the Guadarrama Mountains to the north and east and facing the Meseta to the west and south, the monastery is an imposing sight, totally dominating the nearby village of Escorial.

Here there is no rusticated stonework, there are no pilasters, and the rows of seemingly endless windows are devoid of frames and pediments, so common in classical architecture. Above, four half columns, topped by a large pediment, flank a statue of St.

Lawrence and beneath him the Hapsburg coat-of -arms. This description can be applied also to the internal architecture with fluted pilasters about the only decorative element in what is classical simplicity of solid pillars, perfect semicircular arches of which there are many and vaulted ceilings.

Inside, the Church or Basilica is the main building. The spectacularly vaulted library boasts an impressive collection of manuscripts including those in Arabic, Hebrew and Latin and rare editions protected on bookshelves made of rare woods. The Significance of the Escorial.

Although Charles was devout and defended the Catholic Church against Protestantism in northern Europe and Islam in the Mediterranean, his palace reflected the humanistic rather than the religious spirit of the time.

It was constructed to greet and impress visiting dignitaries and its single chapel occupied a relatively small space within it. Its austere exterior was a fitting metaphor for the ascetic and sober spirit of Counter-Reformation Spain in the face of the threat posed by Protestantism from north of the Pyrenees.

They were especially urged to eliminate unnecessary or irrelevant ornamentation and focus on clarity or simplicity of expression or austerity regarding the subject matter. Inside the Escorial. Shutters in his bedroom wall allowed him a view of the high altar and, when dying from gangrene in , to see mass being celebrated while in bed.