The facade of the chapel, in the baroque style of Jesuit churches, is integrated with the palatial facade
El Escorial is an immense palace, monastery, museum, and library complex located at San Lorenzo de El Escorial (also San Lorenzo del Escorial), a town 45 kilometres northwest of Madrid in the autonomous community of Madrid in Spain.
At the foot of the Sierra de Guadarrama mountain range, the complex was commanded by King Philip II of Spain as a necropolis for the Spanish monarchs and the seat of studies in aid of the Counter-Reformation. It was designed by the architects Juan Bautista de Toledo, Giambattista Castello, and Juan de Herrera in an austere classical style, and built from 1563 to 1584. It is shaped as a grid in memory of the martyrdom of Saint Lawrence. It is said that during the battle of Saint Quentin, the Spanish troops destroyed a small hermitage devoted to Lawrence. The King decided to dedicate the monastery to the saint in thanks for his victory.
El Escorial
The complex has an enormous store of art, including works by Titian, El Greco, Velázquez, Goya, and others. Also at the complex is a library containing thousands of priceless ancient manuscripts. It is the burial site for most Spanish kings since Philip II.
The complex is a UNESCOWorld Heritage Site and is an extremely popular tourist attraction, often visited as a day trip from Madrid. It is close to the Santa Cruz del Valle de los Caídos.
The surrounding town of San Lorenzo de El Escorial (Madrid) is also home for the popular summer courses of Universidad Complutense. A downhill neighbour town also named El Escorial has a likenamed RENFE station.
San Cristóbal de La Laguna (La Laguna for short, Spanish for The Lagoon) is a municipality of the northern part of the island of Tenerife in the Santa Cruz de Tenerife province, on the Canary Islands.
ElEscorial wouldn't be, as a whole or in parts, the illustration of an idea, but the figurative stimulus that would provide to construct it so that in a sufficiently flexible way to compose very varied influences.
ElEscorial, in spite of its strong symbolism, is not less an instrument that obeis to precise necessities, and conditioned by the climate, the economical structure of the society or the architectural tradition.
At the foot of the Sierra de Guadarrama mountain range, the complex was commanded by King Philip II of Spain as a necropolis for the Spanish monarchs and the seat of studies in aid of the Counter-Reformation.
It is shaped as a grid in memory of the martyrdom of Saint Lawrence.
Near ElEscorial there is the Monumento Nacional de Santa Cruz del Valle de los Caidos with the tallest memorial cross in the world.
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