Madrid: San Lorenzo del Escorial Monastery Tour

El Escorial is a magnificent monastery, just an hour outside the city center of Madrid. It is, undoubtedly, a breathtaking building and one of the greatest monumens of Spain’s Golden Age.

When Felipe II comissioned the monastery his original idea was to build a suitable monument for his father’s tomb, as well as the rest of the royal family. A community of monks of Saint Jerome was given the task of praying for the souls of the royal family as well as taking care of the building. Little by little, as the building grew, new goals were added: to be a royal residence, a cultural center, a seminary, a trade school, a guest house, a hospital…