Libraries of the World: El Escorial, New Castile, Spain

The many views of El Escorial

The library at El Escorial is located inside a magnificent and very large building in New Castile, central Spain, near Madrid. The main building was created (1563–84) as the monastery of San Lorenzo del Escorial by Philip II to commemorate the Spanish victory over the French at Saint-Quentin (1557).

Its buildings include a monastery, church, royal palace, college, and royal Spanish tomb, as well as the library which was added by King Phillip himself. He also provided the books that were originally held in the library.

According to feelmadrid.com, "the library at El Escorial holds almost 45,000 printed works from the 15th and 16th centuries, and some 5,000 manuscripts in Arabic, Latin, and Spanish."

The frescoes painted on the vaulted ceilings represent the seven liberal arts: rhetoric, dialectic, music, grammar, arithmetic, geometry and astronomy.

Information in the above article from www. feelgoodmadrid.com.