Royal Monastery of San Lorenzo de El Escorial

Two architects planned El Escorial, one after the other.

Builders used hard gray stone called granite. They made the walls very plain, with few decorations, but they made it very, very big.

The first architect was Juan Bautista de Toledo, a Spanish architect who had worked in Italy. He planned a great rectangle in three parts, with the church in the middle, the palace and offices to the south and the monks' rooms to the north. When he died in 1567, Juan de Herrera took over and finished the building in 1584.

The outside walls are made of plain gray granite, with rows of windows and very little decoration. This simple, serious style became known as the Herreran style, and Spanish builders copied it for about 50 years.

Britannica credits Juan Bautista de Toledo, a Renaissance architect who had worked in Italy (UNESCO: a pupil of Michelangelo on the Vatican Basilica), with the general plan: a great rectangle of three parts, the center occupied by the church, five cloisters to the south including the royal palace and offices, and the monks' quarters to the north. After Toledo's death in 1567, Juan de Herrera revised the designs, drew new plans for the church (1572) and completed the whole in 1584.

Inside, massive walls relieved only by Doric pilasters produced, in Britannica's words, a monument austere beyond anything the Italian Renaissance envisaged, while the gigantic scale and severe gray granite outside are forbidding. The resulting Herreran style (herreriano) prevailed in Spain for half a century, though UNESCO notes that several rooms are richly decorated.

Today, visitors come to see the church, the palace and the library.

Monks still live in part of the building. The forests around it are protected too.

Today, Spain's National Heritage (Patrimonio Nacional) looks after El Escorial and opens it to visitors. Augustinian monks have lived in the monastery since 1885.

The town of San Lorenzo de El Escorial grew up around it, and nearby forests called the Herrería woods are protected. UNESCO says the buildings from Philip II's time still stand completely intact, and repairs use traditional materials and methods.

UNESCO reports that the ensemble is administered by the Spanish National Heritage Board (Patrimonio Nacional) under Law 23/1982, which favors traditional materials and building techniques in its conservation projects. The original constructions of Philip II's reign, the main building and the Houses of Trades, and the 18th-century town of Charles III remain completely intact, and the 19th- and 20th-century growth of the town has not harmed the monument's image.

The nearby Herreria estate is protected as National Heritage, and an environmental protection plan for the Herreria woods is the main tool for safeguarding the immediate surroundings; UNESCO identifies urban development as the most vulnerable point. Augustinians have occupied the monastery since 1885.