Real Sitio de San Lorenzo de El Escorial

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Escorial in Madrid (monastery with surroundings)
UNESCO world heritage UNESCO World Heritage Emblem
Vista aerea del Monasterio de El Escorial.jpg
El Escorial monastery residence, view of the entire complex
National territory: SpainSpain Spain
Type: Culture
Criteria : i, ii, vi
Surface: 94.11 ha
Reference No .: 318
UNESCO region : Europe and North America
History of enrollment
Enrollment: 1984  (session 8)
Inner courtyard with entrance to the church
Ceiling view of the church

The Real Sitio de San Lorenzo de El Escorial ("Royal Seat of St. Lawrence of El Escorial") is a palace and monastery complex that was built between 1563 and 1584 on the initiative of King Philip II of Spain according to plans by Juan Bautista de Toledo and under the long-term construction management of Juan de Herrera in the central Spanish town of San Lorenzo de El Escorial in the north-west of the Madrid region . The monastery castle is the largest Renaissance building in the world and has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1984 .

location

The monastery palace of the Escorial is located on the south side of the Sierra de Guadarrama at an altitude of approx. 910  m . The distance to the Spanish capital Madrid is about 45 km (driving distance).

history

After Philip II of Spain had defeated the French King Henry II at the Battle of Saint-Quentin on August 10, 1557, the feast of St. Lawrence ( Spanish: San Lorenzo ) , he vowed to build a monastery in honor of the saint . His astrologers chose the small Castilian town of El Escorial ("the rubble dump").

Construction work began on April 23, 1563 and lasted until September 13, 1584. Granite blocks from the Sierra de Guadarrama were used for its construction. El Escorial was designed by Juan Bautista de Toledo , a student of Michelangelo . After his death in 1567, Juan de Herrera succeeded him and became the actual builder of the Escorial. Plagued by gout , Philip II ruled from here.

Philip's successors did not like to use the palace of El Escorial - for a fixed time of the year, however, the complex was assigned to them as a residence by the court protocol. Almost all Spanish kings from Charles I to Alfonso XIII are in the baroque crypt , which was expanded in 1654 by Juan Gómez de Mora . buried. Charles IV , who did not like the severity of the palace, built a Moorish-style summer residence nearby , the Casita del Príncipe , at the end of the 18th century . El Escorial has not been a royal residence since 1861.

El Escorial

architecture

Despite its length of 207 m and a width of 161 m, the building does not look like a typical palace . Because of Philip II's preference for an ascetic lifestyle, the facades are designed in the sober style of the Spanish Renaissance. The building complex includes a church (built over a quincunx floor plan in the Milanese scheme ), a church dedicated to St. Laurentius monastery of the Order of the Hieronymites (today in the care of the Augustinians ), the actual royal palace, a school and a library. The building is considered to be the main example of the Desornamentado style (Herrera style). On an area of ​​33,000 m², which is only surpassed by the Vatican Palace , there are 2,000 rooms with 3,000 doors and 2,673 windows, as well as 16 courtyards, 12 cloisters, 88 fountains and 86 stairways. The floor plan has the shape of a lattice, in honor of St. Lawrence , who, according to tradition , suffered martyrdom on a grate .

Library

Historical library room

The library is housed in one of the largest halls in the palace with magnificent frescoed ceilings ; it houses over 40,000 books, including numerous medieval manuscripts including Latin, Greek and Arabic manuscripts. King Philip II had it laid out in 1567 and about 4,000 volumes of his private collection housed in it. As a result, there were further significant donations to the Escorial Library, which in 1587 already comprised around 18,000 volumes. However, in 1671 a major fire destroyed a considerable part of the bookstore.

Royal palace

Porcelain, furniture and tapestries can be viewed here. The most famous battles of the Spaniards against the Arabs and from the reign of Philip II ( Saint-Quentin ) are depicted in the 55 m long battle room.

Architecture museum and art gallery

The architecture museum houses a documentation of the 21-year construction work. The Summer Palace of Philip II has a valuable collection of paintings with works by Titian , El Greco , Albrecht Dürer and especially Hieronymus Bosch , Philip II's favorite painter.

church

In the center of the complex is the monastery church, which is dedicated to San Lorenzo de la Victoria . The facade of the monumental church rises in the royal court, opposite the main entrance. The statues of six biblical kings watch over the three portals . To the right and left of the entrance are the two 72 m high bell towers. The height of the dome of the church is 90 m. There are 40 altars inside the church; the high altar is made of red marble and jasper . On both sides of the high altar are the tombs of Philip II and Emperor Charles V and their families. The sacristy keeps over forty valuable paintings, including works by Titian and El Greco .

Royal tombs

Site plan of the royal tombs in the Escorial: A- garden, B- altar in the Pantheon of the Kings, C- basement of the monastery palace, I-VII groups of sarcophagi in the Pantheon of the Kings, 1–9 chapels in the Pantheon of the Infants

In the monastery palace of the Escorial is the burial place of the Spanish monarchs since Charles V and many of their family members. Funerals take place here to this day. The burial place consists of two elements: the pantheon of kings and the neighboring pantheon of the infants . Both the pantheon of kings and the pantheon of the infants have their own pudridero . In each case, it is a publicly inaccessible space in which the corpses can rot for up to 50 years before the bones are reburied in their final resting place in the respective pantheon.

See also: Tombs of European Monarchs

Pantheon of kings

Pantheon of kings
Pantheon of Kings: site map
Pantheon of Kings: Group I.
Pantheon of Kings: Group II

The Pantheon of the Kings is an eight-sided dome made of black marble, which is located directly below the monastery church. Juan de Herrera designed and built the shell on behalf of Philip II using only granite. The design for today's artistic design began in 1617 by Juan Gómez de Mora , and the furnishings were finally completed in 1654. The entrance is in the southwest wall of this octagon , while the opposite wall in the northeast is occupied by the altar of the crypt . The walls of the other six sides contain (as groups I-VI) four coffin niches arranged one above the other. Two more coffin niches are located (as group VII) in the southwest wall above the entrance. In each of these coffin niches there is a magnificent sarcophagus made of black marble with gold decorations, with gold tablets naming the names of the persons buried. Of the wives of kings, only those women are buried here who were the mother of a king. The following members of the Spanish royal family are buried in the Pantheon of Kings:

Group I:

Group II:

Group III:

Group IV:

Group V:

Group VI:

Group VII:

The magnificent sarcophagi of Group VII are empty, as the coffins of the Count of Barcelona and his wife are currently still in the pudridero of the Pantheon of Kings.

Pantheon of the Infants

The room arrangement of the Pantheon of the Infants : View from Chapel IX towards Chapel VI with the children's collective grave

The Pantheon of the Infants is located in the east and south wings of the palace and is below the sacristy and the chapter rooms. It is a suite of nine chapels, which begins on the north side of the monastery church. Each of the nine chapels has its own altar. In contrast to the Pantheon of Kings, which is dominated by the colors black and gold, mostly white marble was used for the walls and the magnificent sarcophagi of the Pantheon of the Infants. The Pantheon of the Infants was built by order of Isabella II in the years 1862 to 1886 according to plans by José Segundo de Lema and finally completed in 1888. The Pantheon of the Infants is currently designed for the burial of 133 people (69 adults, 64 children), with a total of 55 adults and 38 children being buried here until 2014. A free-standing circular monument in Chapel VI serves as a collective grave for children from the Spanish royal family who died early. In Chapel IX are u. a. sixteen members of the House of Habsburg are buried. The remains of the following members of the Spanish royal family are buried in the Pantheon of the Infants:

Chapel I:
(2014: 8 occupied sarcophagi)

Chapel I.
Chapel I.
  1. Infanta María Josepha (July 6, 1744– December 8, 1801) - (daughter of King Charles III )
  2. Luisa of Sicily , Duchess of Cádiz (October 24, 1804– January 29, 1844) - (Wife of Francisco de Paula de Borbón , Duke of Cádiz)
  3. Infanta Amelia (August 28, 1851–1870) - (daughter of Prince Antoine d'Orléans, duc de Montpensier )
  4. Infanta Cristina (October 29, 1852–1879) - (daughter of Prince Antoine d'Orléans, duc de Montpensier )
  5. Prince Antoine d'Orléans, duc de Montpensier , (July 31, 1824– February 4, 1890) - (son of King Louis Philippe I of France )
  6. Infanta María de las Mercedes de Borbón , Princess of Asturias (September 11, 1880– October 17, 1904) - (daughter of King Ferdinand VII. )
  7. Infanta Luisa Fernanda (January 30, 1832– February 2, 1897) - (daughter of Ferdinand VII. )
  8. Infant Alfonso of Bourbon-Sicily (1901–1964) - (son of Infanta María de las Mercedes )

Chapel II:
(2014: 3 occupied, 9 empty sarcophagi)

  1. Infant Gonzalo (October 24, 1914– August 13, 1934) - (son of King Alfonso XIII )
  2. Infant Alfonso , Prince of Asturias (May 10, 1907– September 6, 1938) - (Son of King Alfonso XIII )
  3. Infant Alfonso (October 3, 1941– March 29, 1956) - (brother of King Juan Carlos I )

Chapel III:
(2014: 1 occupied sarcophagus)

  1. Infanta María Teresa (November 12, 1882– September 23, 1912) - (daughter of King Alfonso XII )

Chapel IV:
(2014: 7 occupied, 5 empty sarcophagi)

Chapel IV
  1. Prince Gaetano of Sicily (January 12, 1846– November 26, 1871) - (Consort of Infanta Maria Isabel de Borbón )
  2. Infanta María del Pilar (June 4, 1861– August 5, 1879) - (daughter of Queen Isabella II )
  3. Infanta Luisa, Duchess of Sessa (June 11, 1824– December 27, 1900) - (daughter of Francisco de Paula de Borbón , Duke of Cádiz)
  4. Infanta Cristina (June 5, 1833– January 19, 1902) - (daughter of Francisco de Paula de Borbón , Duke of Cádiz)
  5. Infant Antonio (1866–1930) - (son of Prince Antoine d'Orléans, duc de Montpensier )
  6. Infanta María de las Mercedes (1911–1953) - (daughter of Infanta María Teresa )
  7. Infanta Eulalia (February 12, 1864– March 8, 1958) - (daughter of Queen Isabella II )

Chapel V:
(2014: 3 occupied sarcophagi)

  1. Don Juan of Austria (February 24, 1547– October 1, 1578) - (illegitimate son of King Charles I )
  2. Don Francisco Fernando of Austria (1627–1634) - (illegitimate son of King Philip IV )
  3. Don Juan José of Austria (April 7, 1629– September 17, 1679) - (illegitimate son of King Philip IV )

Chapel VI:
(2014: 38 occupied, 26 empty burial niches)

Chapel VI: Children's collective grave
Chapel VI: Children's collective grave
Chapel VI: Children's collective grave
  1. Infant Juan of Austria (October 19, 1537– March 20, 1538) - (son of King Charles I )
  2. Infant Lorenzo (August 12, 1573– June 30, 1575) - (son of King Philip II )
  3. Infanta María (February 14, 1580– August 5, 1583) - (daughter of King Philip II )
  4. Infanta María (February 1, 1603– March 1, 1603) - (daughter of King Philip III )
  5. Infant Alfonso (1611-1612) - (son of King Philip III )
  6. Infanta Margarita (August 14, 1621– August 15, 1621) - (daughter of King Philip IV )
  7. Infanta Catalina (November 25, 1623– December 22, 1623) - (daughter of King Philip IV )
  8. Infanta María (November 21, 1625– July 21, 1627) - (daughter of King Philip IV )
  9. Infanta Isabel Teresa (October 31, 1627– November 1, 1627) - (daughter of King Philip IV )
  10. Infant Fernando (1529–1529) - (son of King Charles I )
  11. Infanta Ana Antonia (January 17, 1636– December 5, 1636) - (daughter of King Philip IV )
  12. Prince Ferdinand of Savoyen-Carignan (1634–1637) - (son of Prince Thomas Franz (Savoyen-Carignan) )
  13. Infanta Ambrosia (December 5, 1655– December 21, 1655) - (daughter of King Philip IV )
  14. Infant Fernando Tomás Carlos (December 23, 1658– October 22, 1659) - (son of King Philip IV )
  15. Infant Felipe Próspero (November 28, 1657– November 1, 1661) - (son of King Philip IV )
  16. Infant Felipe (July 7, 1709– July 8, 1709) - (son of King Philip V )
  17. Infant Francisco (March 21, 1717– April 21, 1717) - (son of King Philip V )
  18. Infant Carlos Clemens (September 19, 1771– March 7, 1774) - (son of King Charles IV. )
  19. Infanta María Luisa (September 11, 1777– July 2, 1782) - (daughter of King Charles IV )
  20. Infant Carlos Eusebio (March 5, 1780– June 11, 1783) - (son of King Charles IV )
  21. Infant Felipe (September 5, 1783– October 18, 1784) - (son of King Charles IV )
  22. Infant Fernando Carlos Francisco (September 5, 1783– November 11, 1784) - (son of King Charles IV )
  23. Infanta María Carlota (November 4, 1787– November 11, 1787) - (daughter of Infant Gabriel)
  24. Infant Carlos (October 28, 1788– November 9, 1788) - (son of Infant Gabriel)
  25. Infant Felipe (March 28, 1792– March 1, 1794) - (son of King Charles IV )
  26. Infanta María Teresa (February 16, 1791– November 2, 1794) - (daughter of King Charles IV )
  27. Infanta Isabel (August 21, 1817– January 9, 1818) - (daughter of King Ferdinand VII )
  28. Infant Francisco (May 6, 1820– November 15, 1821) - (son of Francisco de Paula de Borbón , Duke of Cádiz)
  29. Infanta María Teresa (June 15, 1828– November 3, 1829) - (daughter of Francisco de Paula de Borbón , Duke of Cádiz)
  30. Infant Eduardo (April 4, 1826– October 22, 1830) - (son of Francisco de Paula de Borbón , Duke of Cádiz)
  31. Infant Luis Fernando (1850–1850) - (son of Queen Isabella II )
  32. Infanta María Cristina (January 5, 1854– January 7, 1854) - (daughter of Queen Isabella II )
  33. Infanta María de Regla (October 8, 1856–1861) - (daughter of Prince Antoine d'Orléans, duc de Montpensier )
  34. Infanta María de la Concepción (December 26, 1859– October 21, 1861) - (daughter of Queen Isabella II )
  35. Infant Felipe (May 12, 1862–1864) - (son of Prince Antoine d'Orléans, duc de Montpensier )
  36. Infant Francisco Leopoldo (January 24, 1866– February 14, 1866) - (Son of Queen Isabella II )
  37. Nameless Infanta - (niece of Queen Isabella II )
  38. Nameless Prince - (son of King Alfonso XIII )

Chapel VII:
(2014: 9 occupied sarcophagi)

Chapel VII
  1. Ludwig , Hereditary Prince of Parma, King of Etruria (August 5, 1773– May 27, 1803) - (Consort of Infanta Maria Louisa )
  2. Maria Antonia of Naples and Sicily, Queen of Spain (December 14, 1784– May 21, 1806) - (first wife of King Ferdinand VII )
  3. Infant Antonio (December 31, 1755– April 20, 1817) - (son of King Charles III )
  4. Maria Isabella of Portugal , Queen of Spain (May 19, 1797– December 26, 1818) - (second wife of King Ferdinand VII )
  5. Maria Louisa , Queen of Etruria (July 6, 1782– March 13, 1824) - (daughter of King Charles IV. )
  6. Maria Josepha Amalia of Saxony , Queen of Spain (December 6, 1803– May 17, 1829) - (third wife of King Ferdinand VII )
  7. Infant Fernando María (# April 10, 1832– July 17, 1854) - (Son of Francisco de Paula de Borbón , Duke of Cádiz)
  8. Francisco de Paula de Borbón , Duke of Cádiz (March 10, 1794– August 13, 1865) - (son of King Charles IV )
  9. Infant Sebastián (1811–1875) - (son of Infant Pedro Carlos)

Chapel VIII:
(2014: 7 occupied sarcophagi)

Chapel VIII
  1. Louis Joseph, Duke of Vendôme (July 1, 1654– June 11, 1712)
  2. Infant Philip (June 7, 1712 - December 29, 1719) - (son of King Philip V )
  3. Infant Francisco Javier (March 17, 1757– April 10, 1771) - (son of King Charles III )
  4. Infant Luis Antonio, Archbishop of Toledo (July 25, 1727– August 7, 1785) - (son of King Philip V )
  5. Anna Victoria of Portugal (December 15, 1768– November 2, 1788) - (wife of Infant Gabriel)
  6. Infant Gabriel (May 12, 1752– November 23, 1788) - (son of King Charles III )
  7. Infanta María Amelia (January 9, 1779– July 22, 1798) - (daughter of King Charles IV )

Chapel IX:
(2014: 17 occupied sarcophagi)

Chapel IX
  1. Mary of Portugal , Queen of Spain (October 15, 1527– July 12, 1545) - (first wife of King Philip II )
  2. Eleanor of Austria , Queen of Portugal, Queen of France (November 15, 1498– February 18, 1558) - (wife of King Emmanuel I of Portugal, wife of King Francis I of France )
  3. Mary of Castile , Queen of Hungary and Bohemia (September 17, 1505– October 18, 1558) - (wife of King Ludwig II of Hungary and Bohemia )
  4. Don Carlos , Prince of Asturias (June 8, 1545– July 24, 1568) - (son of King Philip II )
  5. Elisabeth of Valois , Queen of Spain (April 2, 1545– October 3, 1568) - (third wife of King Philip II )
  6. Archduke Wenceslas of Austria (March 9, 1561– September 22, 1578) - (son of Emperor Maximilian II )
  7. Infant Fernando (December 4, 1571– October 18, 1578) - (son of King Philip II )
  8. Infant Diego Felix (July 12, 1575– November 21, 1582) - (son of King Philip II )
  9. Emanuel of Savoy, Prince of Piedmont (1586–1605) - (son of Duke Karl Emmanuel of Savoy, grandson of King Philip II )
  10. Prince Philibert of Savoy (1588–1624) - (son of Duke Karl Emmanuel of Savoy, grandson of King Philip II )
  11. Archduke Karl Joseph of Austria (August 7, 1590– December 28, 1624) - (son of Archduke Karl II. )
  12. Infant Carlos (September 14, 1607– July 30, 1632) - (son of King Philip III )
  13. Infant Fernando , Cardinal (May 16, 1609 - November 9, 1641) - (Son of King Philip III )
  14. Infant Balthasar Carlos (October 17, 1629– October 9, 1646) - (son of King Philip IV )
  15. Maria Louisa of Orléans , Queen of Spain (March 27, 1662– February 12, 1689) - (first wife of King Charles II )
  16. Infanta Margarita (1610–1717) - (daughter of King Philip III )
  17. Maria Anna von Pfalz-Neuburg , Queen of Spain (October 28, 1667– July 16, 1740) - (second wife of King Karl II. )

Pudridero of the Pantheon of the Infants:

See also: Tombs of European Monarchs

Views

  • Main facade

  • View of the place with the residence

  • South side

  • Church dome

literature

  • Julián Zarco Cuevas (Ed.): Documentos para la historia de San Lorenzo el Real de El Escorial. 4 vols., Madrid 1916–1924.
  • Georg Weise : The Eskorial as an essential artistic expression of the time of Philip II. In: Spanische Forschungen der Görresgesellschaft 5 (1935), pp. 337-360. (also published in Spanish and Italian)
  • Cornelia von der Osten-Sacken: San Lorenzo el Real de el Escorial. Studies in building history and iconology . Mäander-Kunstverlag, Mittenwald 1979. Also dissertation, University of Munich, 1974.
  • George Kubler : Building the Escorial . Princeton, NJ 1982.
  • Juan Rafael de la Cuadra Blanco: King Philip of Spain as Solomon the Second. The Origins of Solomonism of the Escorial in the Netherlands. (PDF; 550 kB) In: Wim de Groot (Ed.): The Seventh Window. The King's Window donated by Phillip II and Mary Tudor to Sint Janskerk (1557). Verloren Publishers, Hilversum 2005, ISBN 90-6550-822-8 , pp. 169-180.
  • Henry Kamen : The Escorial. Art and Power in the Renaissance. Yale University Press, New Haven 2010.

Web links

Commons : Monasterio de El Escorial  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Entry on the website of the UNESCO World Heritage Center ( English and French ).
  2. ↑ Royal interim storage facility : The Spanish Escorial monastery hides a secret: the digester . ( tagesspiegel.de [accessed on May 16, 2017]).
  3. ^ Escorial Library . In: Meyers Enzyklopädisches Lexikon , 9th edition, Vol. 8, p. 187.
  4. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j Information from: José Rodríguez Díez, "Epitafios del Panteón de Infantes del Monasterio del Escorial y sus fuentes bíblicas", in: Francisco Javier Campos / Fernández de Sevilla (ed.), El mundo de los difuntos: culto, cofradías y tradiciones , Vol. 2, 2014, ISBN 978-84-15659-23-5 , pp. 825-856 ( online , accessed November 1, 2019)

Coordinates: 40 ° 35 ′ 21 ″  N , 4 ° 8 ′ 52 ″  W.