Escorial Begun

1563

Philip II laid the cornerstone of the Escorial, an enormous granite palace-monastery complex in the Guadarrama mountains northwest of Madrid. Designed by Juan Bautista de Toledo and Juan de Herrera, it combined a royal residence, a library, a basilica, and a mausoleum. It would take twenty-one years to complete. Philip's austere granite complex reflected his vision of a monarchy grounded in piety, order, and systematic administration of a global empire.