Spain Guide
Around Madrid
El Escorial
Opening time: Tues– Sun: April– Sept 10am–6pm; Oct– March 10am–5pm
Price: €8, €10 with guided tour; €8.50 combined with El Valle de los Caídos; free Wed for EU citizens
The vast granite building known as El Escorial, which contains a royal palace, a monastery, a mausoleum, 4000 rooms, fifteen cloisters and one of the finest libraries of the Renaissance, embodies all that was important to one of the most powerful rulers in European history. Rectangular, overbearing and severe, from the outside it resembles a prison more than a palace. Built between 1563 and 1584 to commemorate the French defeat at the battle of San Quentin on August 10, 1557 (San Lorenzo's Day), it was originally created by Juan Bautista de Toledo, though his former assistant, Juan de Herrera, is normally credited with the design.
Felipe II planned the complex as both monastery and mausoleum, where he would live the life of a monk and "rule the world with two inches of paper". Later monarchs had less ascetic lifestyles, enlarging and richly decorating the palace quarters, but Felipe's simple rooms remain the most fascinating.
The splendid Biblioteca (Library), just inside the western gateway, holds frescoes by Tibaldi and his assistants, showing the seven Liberal Arts. Its collections include the tenth-century Codex Albeldensis, St Teresa's personal diary, some gorgeous Arabic manuscripts and a Florentine planetarium of 1572.
Religious treasures in the Sacristía and Salas Capitulares (Chapterhouses) include paintings by Titian, Velázquez and José Ribera. A staircase leads down to the Panteón Real, the final resting place of all Spanish monarchs since Carlos V, with the exception of Felipe V and Fernando VI. The deceased monarchs lie in exquisite gilded marble tombs: kings (and Isabel II) on one side, spouses on the other.
What remains of El Escorial's art collection – works by Bosch, Gerard David, Dürer, Titian, Zurbarán and others, which escaped transfer to the Prado – is kept in the elegant suite of rooms known as the Museos Nuevos. Don't miss the Sala de las Batallas, a long gallery lined with paintings of imperial battles.
To escape the worst crowds avoid Wednesdays and try visiting just before lunch. There's a cafeteria near the ticket office.