⚠ Announcement

El Escorial is a vast building complex in San Lorenzo de El Escorial, near Madrid, in central Spain. The building is the most important architectural monument of the Spanish Renaissance. The complex, severe in its lines, has four principal stories with large towers at each corner. Arranged within a quadrangle, the buildings include: the church (1582); the monastery, royal palace, and college (1584); and the library (1592). The interior of the Escorial was decorated by many notable Spanish and Italian artists of the 16th and 17th centuries. An important collection of paintings by Renaissance and Baroque artists donated by the crown is among the many artistic treasures housed in the complex.