Hola amigos! Unfortunately it's been awhile since I have posted! I have been extremely busy traveling on the weekends, writing essays during the week, and attending to some unexpected problems...soon I will update about these lovely unexpected problems...but for now I'd like to recount my trip to El Escorial y El Valle de los Caídos!
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El Escorial courtesy of Wikipedia...couldn't help myself!
It's gorgeous! |
On Friday, June 27th we left early in the morning to visit El Escorial, a historical residence of the King of Spain in the city of San Lorenzo de El Escorial. The residence serves as a royal palace, monastery, library, school, and museum. Phillip II had the residence built in 1559!!!
Upon entering, we first saw the Courtyard of the Kings and the Basilica. The Basilica is in the form of a cross and is the central building of El Escorial. I was most amazed by the reliquaries inside the Basilica! It is one of the largest reliquaries in all of Catholicism. The collection consists of 7,500 relics (including bones and clothing items of saints!)
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Modeling in the Courtyard of Kings just as we casual
Europeans do ;) |
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| Collection of relics in the Basilica |
Under the Basilica is the Royal Pantheon, the burial site for most of the Spanish kings and queens of the last 5 centuries. It was so amazing to see!
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| Royal Panetheon. This picture doesn't do it justice unfortunately! |
We also saw the Courtyard of the Evangelists, which is a gardened patio. Around the courtyard are galleries decorated with frescoes!
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| O-H-I-O in the courtyard! |
Next we went inside the Palace/House of the King. We saw their original beds--so crazy to think that they have been preserved for hundreds of years! We also saw the Hall of Battles which contains frescoes of important Spanish victories.
Finally we visited the library that holds over 40,000 volumes! It has marble floors and carved wooden shelves! The ceiling is decorated with frescoes depicting liberal arts. Simply beautiful!
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| Beautiful library! |
After our trip to El Escorial, we drove less than 30 minutes to arrive at El Valle de los Caídos (The Valley of the Fallen), a Catholic basilica and monumental memorial erected by Francisco Franco, dictator of Spain from 1939-1975, to honor and bury those who fell during the Spanish Civil War. The monument is built around woodlands and granite boulders across the Sierra de Guadarrama hills. On top of the monument is the tallest memorial cross in the world and can be seen from over 20 miles away! Overall the monument took 18 years to complete--laborers had to cut into the mountain to build the basilica underground!
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| Valley of the Fallen! Thank you Google Images! |
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My dear friend Sasa took this beautiful picture! Here is
the entrance to the basilica. |
In the valley surrounding the basilica, over 40,000 Nationalists and Republicans are buried. Franco claimed that this monument is meant to be a "national act of atonement"; however, El Valle de los Caídos is extremely controversial. Firstly, convicts constructed the monument in exchange for a reduction in time served. Secondly, Franco, who died of health problems, is buried inside the basilica opposite of José Antonio Primo de Rivera, who was executed by the Spanish Republican government during the Spanish Civil War. It was very unsettling to see their tombs within 10 feet of each other in a Catholic basilica....they fought on opposite sides throughout the war. Also, Franco received help from Hitler's Nazi Germany to defeat the Nationalists...unsettling yet again. Moreover, Franco won the war after leaving 500,000 dead...he organized concentration camps, forced labor, and executions after the war...leaving hundreds of thousands dead yet again.
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| Franco's tombstone. They change the flowers daily! |
When I entered the basilica, I felt uncomfortable. It didn't feel like a regular Catholic basilica...I sensed the pain...I felt the tension. It didn't seem to be a true memorial to me, but rather a monument for Franco himself.
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| Basilica entrance. Everything is very dark and somber. |
After leaving the basilica, we had a bit of a photo shoot on a cliff overlooking the valley! It was one of the most beautiful views I've ever seen!
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| Looking over the valley! |
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| Can't believe we sat on this cliff! |
Overall, we had a great day visiting these historical places! I learned so much and am so appreciative to have had this opportunity! Like I said, I'm far behind on my blog posts but am working hard to keep up! There will be more coming soon! Adiós for now!
Picture credits:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Escorial
http://bestwesternhotelarosa.wordpress.com/2013/09/23/6-cosas-que-no-sabias-sobre-el-monasterio-de-san-lorenzo-de-el-escorial/
http://www.unofficialroyalty.com/royal-burial-sites/spanish-royal-burial-sites/spanish-royal-burial-sites-of-the-kingdom-of-spain-1516-present/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Escorial
http://turismo-sostenible.net/2011/12/02/report-valle-de-los-caidos-valley/
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/spain/8147133/Demonstrators-demand-destruction-of-Francos-tomb.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valle_de_los_Ca%C3%ADdos
José Antonio Primo de Rivera was the leader of the Spanish falangists. The falangists were a Spanish version of black-shirt fascists and thus in alliance with Franco. Rivera and Franco were allies, not enemies.
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