El Escorial
Title
El Escorial
Description
Spanish history has long been intertwined with the Catholic faith. Spain is famous for spreading and defending the religion wholeheartedly, and its Catholic tendencies are etched into its cultural identity. The devotion of King Philip II (reign 1556-1598), the monarch of Spain during the height of the nation’s influence, to Catholicism led him to view himself as the defender of the faith against threats such as the Protestant Reformation. This marriage between the crown and Catholicism inspired the creation of the Royal Monastery of San Lorenzo de El Escorial, an imposing combination of a church, a palace, a monastery, a college, and a royal burial site. Given this mix of functions, the Escorial, as the complex is commonly known, is a perfect cultural representation of the amalgamation of the Catholic Church and Spanish state during the sixteenth century. The symbols of the monarchy, namely the palace and royal crypt, surround a noticeably centrally located basilica.
Renaissance values had a clear impact on the design of the Escorial, which is unsurprising given the first architect, Juan Bautista de Toledo, was once a student of Michelangelo and based the design of the basilica on St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. While the grid layout of the compound is a potential reference to the martyrdom of St. Lawrence (San Lorenzo in Spanish), who was grilled alive, it also follows the city planning principles of era, which were inspired by ancient Roman building practices. The sober and monumental design of El Escorial implemented by the second architect, Juan de Herrera, continued to influence Spanish architecture even after the Renaissance period came to an end.
Renaissance values had a clear impact on the design of the Escorial, which is unsurprising given the first architect, Juan Bautista de Toledo, was once a student of Michelangelo and based the design of the basilica on St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. While the grid layout of the compound is a potential reference to the martyrdom of St. Lawrence (San Lorenzo in Spanish), who was grilled alive, it also follows the city planning principles of era, which were inspired by ancient Roman building practices. The sober and monumental design of El Escorial implemented by the second architect, Juan de Herrera, continued to influence Spanish architecture even after the Renaissance period came to an end.
Creator
Giacomo Lauro
Source
https://www.europeana.eu/portal/en/record/90402/RP_P_2016_671_34.html?q=el+escorial+san+lorenzo
El Escorial. Accessed November 16, 2018. https://el-escorial.com/.
"Monastery and Site of the Escorial, Madrid." UNESCO World Heritage Centre. Accessed November 16, 2018. https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/318.
Date
1638
Contributor
Elliot Cahn
Rights
Free Re-use
Original Format
Print
Physical Dimensions
Height 179 mm Width 237 mm
Citation
Giacomo Lauro, “El Escorial,” HIST 139 - Early Modern Europe, accessed July 20, 2025, https://earlymoderneurope.hist.sites.carleton.edu/items/show/23.