Escorial & Palacio Real
This was my Shockingly Enormous Old Structures week. Let's call it S.E.O.S. for short, (as a 'shout out' of sorts to my previous co-workers in the acronym-ridden world refugee resettlement :)
I saw a 650ft x 500ft monastery, a 2000 room royal palace, and a city enclosed by giant medieval walls. Phew...I'm tired. I'll focus on the first two in this entry, then write separately about the third.
MONASTERIO DE SAN LORENZO DE ESCORIAL
After class yesterday, I took a 1 hour bus ride out to the small town of San Lorenzo de Escorial to see the monstrously huge 16th century monastery. At right is the photograph I took as I rode over the monastery in a helicopter. Either that, or it's a picture that I found at www.velo-touren.ch and decided to use on my blog in order to show the immense size of this structure.
Honestly, it's kind of a gloomy building, more like a spiffed up prison than a house of worship. It was clearly intended to be a statement of power, and it's absolutely enormous. With over 100 miles of walkways and thousands of rooms, I got lost over and over again during my visit.
My favorite part was most definitely the astoundingly beautiful library. You are not permitted to photograph inside the monastery, but someone apparently disregarded this rule because I found the photo at right on the web. While 'you had to be there' is certainly true in this case, the photo perhaps gives a glimpse at how spectacular the library is, with its beautifully painted ceiling, rich wood bookshelves full of priceless ancient texts, and oooooh....such fantastic globes!
But it wasn't the globes that got me. I don't mean to betray my geographic training, but I was utterly enthralled with the Illuminated Manuscripts. So beautiful! It's fascinating to me to imagine some monk centuries ago toiling for hours over each small detail, each decorative flower, each placement of gold leafing, each fanciful letter. From the first time I saw Illuminated Manuscripts in the British Museum in London (10 years ago), I was hooked. I could stare at them for hours. But unfortunately, this is DEFINITELY a 'you have to see it in person' experience. I have never been able to replicate the same degree of awe by looking at coffee table books with reproductions of the pieces. It's gotta be the real thing.
But, library aside, did I enjoy my visit to Escorial? Kind of no. Perhaps I've had my fill of big buildings full of art (for now), but I just couldn't get into it. I enjoyed the moments when I was able to get a sense of what monastic life might have been like centuries ago, but as far as the room after room of paintings and tapestries and other things hanging on walls... I just didn't have the attention span for it.
I did have a pretty bad headache, so that surely contributed. In the end, I spent just over one hour at Escorial, deciding to throw in the towel when visions of my bottle of Advil held more attraction than priceless, centuries old works of art.
PALACIO REAL
On Monday of this week I visited Madrid's royal place, the 'Palacio Real.' The present king and queen don't currently reside there, but for centuries it was the home for Spainish royalty.
I was expecting a Spanish Versailles, and that is sort of how it felt to me: lots of rooms that don't really seem to serve a purpose other than to make the palace bigger. You have room 32 with three chairs against the wall and two clocks, followed by room 33 with a small sofa along one wall and a painting on the opposing wall, followed by room 34... etc, etc. Does anyone know if this is really how the royals lived in these palaces? Maybe, 'in the day', they were full of furniture and purpose, but now it's just one room after another.
However, the first five rooms of the Palacio Real are SO over-the-top ornate that I LOVED them. The rest of the rooms: ho-hum. But these first five rooms were crazy! There was not a wasted square inch of empty space, and yet it somehow worked. I don't know what happened for the rest of the rooms, but whoever designed these rooms was an insane, impassioned genius. Again, no photography was allowed so the best I can do is borrow pictures taken by others, then posted on the web.
Next to the palace (still part of the complex) is a museum housing an extensive collection of medieval armor for both man and horse. Amazing stuff, but more about that in the Avila entry...
I saw a 650ft x 500ft monastery, a 2000 room royal palace, and a city enclosed by giant medieval walls. Phew...I'm tired. I'll focus on the first two in this entry, then write separately about the third.
MONASTERIO DE SAN LORENZO DE ESCORIAL
After class yesterday, I took a 1 hour bus ride out to the small town of San Lorenzo de Escorial to see the monstrously huge 16th century monastery. At right is the photograph I took as I rode over the monastery in a helicopter. Either that, or it's a picture that I found at www.velo-touren.ch and decided to use on my blog in order to show the immense size of this structure.Honestly, it's kind of a gloomy building, more like a spiffed up prison than a house of worship. It was clearly intended to be a statement of power, and it's absolutely enormous. With over 100 miles of walkways and thousands of rooms, I got lost over and over again during my visit.
My favorite part was most definitely the astoundingly beautiful library. You are not permitted to photograph inside the monastery, but someone apparently disregarded this rule because I found the photo at right on the web. While 'you had to be there' is certainly true in this case, the photo perhaps gives a glimpse at how spectacular the library is, with its beautifully painted ceiling, rich wood bookshelves full of priceless ancient texts, and oooooh....such fantastic globes! 
But it wasn't the globes that got me. I don't mean to betray my geographic training, but I was utterly enthralled with the Illuminated Manuscripts. So beautiful! It's fascinating to me to imagine some monk centuries ago toiling for hours over each small detail, each decorative flower, each placement of gold leafing, each fanciful letter. From the first time I saw Illuminated Manuscripts in the British Museum in London (10 years ago), I was hooked. I could stare at them for hours. But unfortunately, this is DEFINITELY a 'you have to see it in person' experience. I have never been able to replicate the same degree of awe by looking at coffee table books with reproductions of the pieces. It's gotta be the real thing.
But, library aside, did I enjoy my visit to Escorial? Kind of no. Perhaps I've had my fill of big buildings full of art (for now), but I just couldn't get into it. I enjoyed the moments when I was able to get a sense of what monastic life might have been like centuries ago, but as far as the room after room of paintings and tapestries and other things hanging on walls... I just didn't have the attention span for it.
I did have a pretty bad headache, so that surely contributed. In the end, I spent just over one hour at Escorial, deciding to throw in the towel when visions of my bottle of Advil held more attraction than priceless, centuries old works of art.
PALACIO REAL
On Monday of this week I visited Madrid's royal place, the 'Palacio Real.' The present king and queen don't currently reside there, but for centuries it was the home for Spainish royalty. I was expecting a Spanish Versailles, and that is sort of how it felt to me: lots of rooms that don't really seem to serve a purpose other than to make the palace bigger. You have room 32 with three chairs against the wall and two clocks, followed by room 33 with a small sofa along one wall and a painting on the opposing wall, followed by room 34... etc, etc. Does anyone know if this is really how the royals lived in these palaces? Maybe, 'in the day', they were full of furniture and purpose, but now it's just one room after another.
However, the first five rooms of the Palacio Real are SO over-the-top ornate that I LOVED them. The rest of the rooms: ho-hum. But these first five rooms were crazy! There was not a wasted square inch of empty space, and yet it somehow worked. I don't know what happened for the rest of the rooms, but whoever designed these rooms was an insane, impassioned genius. Again, no photography was allowed so the best I can do is borrow pictures taken by others, then posted on the web.
Next to the palace (still part of the complex) is a museum housing an extensive collection of medieval armor for both man and horse. Amazing stuff, but more about that in the Avila entry...