El Escorial is a municipality in the Autonomous Community of Madrid, located 45 km (28 mi) northwest of the Spanish

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

 capital Madrid

Madrid

Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...

. Its population in 2009 was 14,979.

The territory of El Escorial is home to the park of La Granjilla de la Fresneda. The famous Royal Seat of San Lorenzo de El Escorial also known as Monasterio de El Escorial or El Escorial, is located in the adjacent municipality of San Lorenzo de El Escorial

San Lorenzo de El Escorial, Madrid

San Lorenzo de El Escorial, also known as El Escorial de Arriba is a town and municipality in the Community of Madrid, Spain, located to the northwest of the region in the southeastern side of the Sierra de Guadarrama, at the foot of Mount Abantos and Las Machotas, from Madrid. It is head of the...

. On the outskirts of San Lorenzo de El Escorial is the national memorial Valle de los Caídos (Valley of the Fallen).

The name of the town derives from slag

Slag

Slag is a partially vitreous by-product of smelting ore to separate the metal fraction from the unwanted fraction. It can usually be considered to be a mixture of metal oxides and silicon dioxide. However, slags can contain metal sulfides and metal atoms in the elemental form...

 (escoria) deposits from an old local foundry.

Main sights

• La Granjilla de La Fresneda
  La Granjilla de La Fresneda de El Escorial, Madrid
  La Fresneda is a park in El Escorial, Community of Madrid, Spain. Built between 1561 ad 1569, it was the prívate Royal Park of Philip II in the surroundings of the Monastery of El Escorial.-History:To symbolize the union and centralization of political power of the Hispanic Monarchy, in 1561...
  
  , also known as La Fresneda and La Granjilla de La Fresneda de El Escorial, was a cottage of Philip II
  Philip II of Spain
  Philip II was King of Spain, Portugal, Naples, Sicily, and, while married to Mary I, King of England and Ireland. He was lord of the Seventeen Provinces from 1556 until 1581, holding various titles for the individual territories such as duke or count....
  
   in the environment of the Monastery of El Escorial. La Granjilla was designed and constructed between 1561 and 1569, by Gaspar de Vega, Juan Bautista de Toledo
  Juan Bautista de Toledo
  Juan Bautista de Toledo. Spanish architect educated in Italy, in the Italian High Renaissance. As many Italian renaissance architects, he had experience in both architecture and military and civil public works. Born, either in Toledo or in Madrid around 1515. Died May 19, 1567 in Madrid...
  
  , Juan de Herrera, Pedro de Tolosa, Fray Marcos de Cardona and Petre Janson. Situated at the foot of Mt. Abantos in the Sierra de Guadarrama
  Sierra de Guadarrama
  The Sierra de Guadarrama is a mountain range forming the main eastern section of the Sistema Central, the system of mountain ranges at the centre of the Iberian Peninsula. It is located between the Sierra de Gredos in the province of Ávila, and Sierra de Ayllón in the province of Guadalajara...
  
  , La Granjilla de La Fresneda, like El Escorial, is a multifunctional architectural complex: a place of woods, pastures and meadows with dams and artificial waterways, ponds and gardens; palace, chapel, tower, monastery for rest of the monks of El Escorial and granite boulders (e.g.: La Peña del Rey). It is located 5 km to the south-east of the Monastery of El Escorial and 3 km from the municipality of El Escorial on the M505.

• Church of St. Barnabas - based on the design of Francisco de Mora, constructed at the wish of King Philip II
  Philip II of Spain
  Philip II was King of Spain, Portugal, Naples, Sicily, and, while married to Mary I, King of England and Ireland. He was lord of the Seventeen Provinces from 1556 until 1581, holding various titles for the individual territories such as duke or count....
  
   to replace an older church on the same site. Many expert stonemasons from the Monastery
  El Escorial
  The Royal Seat of San Lorenzo de El Escorial is a historical residence of the king of Spain, in the town of San Lorenzo de El Escorial, about 45 kilometres northwest of the capital, Madrid, in Spain. It is one of the Spanish royal sites and functions as a monastery, royal palace, museum, and...
  
   worked on its construction, cutting the granite from which its solid walls are built. The structure is notable for its simplicity and equilibrium, its harmony of line and proportion, and the almost total absence of ornamentation.

• Prestado monasteryu: residence of Philip II during the early years of the construction of the Monastery in San Lorenzo, the church was adapted for this use by adding new extensions and improving the existing structure. Construction was completed between 1567 and 1568. Later the building saw use as a hospital for workers on construction of the Monastery, and for making glass, from which the chimney is still visible.

• The House of the Prince (La Casita del Príncipe) - in neoclassical
  Neoclassical architecture
  Neoclassical architecture was an architectural style produced by the neoclassical movement that began in the mid-18th century, manifested both in its details as a reaction against the Rococo style of naturalistic ornament, and in its architectural formulas as an outgrowth of some classicizing...
  
   style, constructed between 1771 and 1775 and remodeled in 1781, under King Charles III
  Charles III of Spain
  Charles III was the King of Spain and the Spanish Indies from 1759 to 1788. He was the eldest son of Philip V of Spain and his second wife, the Princess Elisabeth Farnese...
  
   by the architect Juan de Villanueva
  Juan de Villanueva
  Juan de Villanueva was a Spanish architect. Alongside Ventura Rodríguez, Villanueva is the best known architect of Spanish Neoclassicism....
  
  . It became the summer residence of the crown prince, the future Charles IV
  Charles IV of Spain
  Charles IV was King of Spain from 14 December 1788 until his abdication on 19 March 1808.-Early life:...
  
  .

• Cross of Nefando - built on a rock in an interior garden of the Casita, in the first half of the 17th century

• Cross "del Tercio" - constructed in the 17th century, it marked the border between the neighborhoods of La Fresneda and Navalquejigo. Since 1985 it has stood at the center of a town square.

• Cross of Navaarmado - served to mark the boundary between La Fresneda and the urban center of El Escorial. The cross sits atop a large granite rock.

• Ark of St. Sebastian - from the mid-16th century, it served for the administration of water to the town. The walls are made of granite ashlar
  Ashlar
  Ashlar is prepared stone work of any type of stone. Masonry using such stones laid in parallel courses is known as ashlar masonry, whereas masonry using irregularly shaped stones is known as rubble masonry. Ashlar blocks are rectangular cuboid blocks that are masonry sculpted to have square edges...
  
  s.

Transportation

The municipality of El Escorial contains a RENFE

RENFE

Renfe Operadora is the state-owned company which operates freight and passenger trains on the 1668-mm "Iberian gauge" and 1435-mm "European gauge" networks of the Spanish national railway infrastructure company ADIF .- History :The name RENFE is derived from that of the former Spanish National...

 commuter train station connecting the area to Madrid.

See also

• Valle de los Caídos