El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1911-08-04


eur the moodiness of a brooding Chris
tan king. It's builder played a large
part in great affairs, but knew little
happiness Among the palaces of Eu-
rope none more surely awakens the
Imagination Of the visitor than the
Real Monasterio de San Lorenzo del
Escorial In it repose many of the
worlds masterpieces of painting.
monastery, college, palace, maui
soleum. and an art gallery combined. it
is unique among architectural monu-
ments of Europe Its spirit is SOM
Der as that Of the Alhambra at Gran
ada and the magnificent palaces of the
emperors Shah Jehan and Akbar at
Agra and Delhi are light.
The King Who Built 1t.
Philip H. of Vallaloid,. had suffici-
ent tragedy in his domestic life to
have accounted for his moody temper
ament- His first wife, princess Mary
of Portugal, died giving birth to
son, Don Carlos, whose mysterious
death in captivity indicated murder for
reasons never explained He next
married the English princess, queen
Mary, daughter of Henry VIII. ana
her death occurred a few years after
ward. He might have married his
sisterinlaw the great Elizabeth Of Eng
land had not the protestant reforma-
ton in England made 1t impossible for
such a marriage to be arranged, and
1t is of record that the virgin qneen
expressed a decided preference Tor MS
majesty, while he sent love letter to
England by the ambassador who was
dispatched to suggest the alliance for
reasons of state. When Philip mar
ried Elizabeth Of France the wedding
festivities were married by a fatal ac
cident to her father in a tournament
The Escorial was builded by Philip
IN obedience to an oath he swore to
San Lorenzo during the battle of ST.
Quintin, in which the Spanish engaged
the French. He chose for its site
bleak eminence upon wild spur of the
Guadarrama, and gave stern setting
to a grim pile among beetling crags
in the shadow Of barren peaks Long
before the reign of Philip, Castillians
had worked iron mines in the Quad
arrama to get material for weapons
and armor, and the "scoriae," the re-
fuse from the mines, gave the name
'EscoriaP' to the spur of the mount
aims. A village nearby was called the
village of the Escorial. and the build
ing took its name from its site.
Fatalities During Building.
1t was not called the Escorial by
its builder AS if fate had decreed
that nothing but somberness should
mark the building of the Eseorial, the
first architect died in the midst of his
work. The plan was made in the shape
of gridiron. because its patron saint.
Lorenzo. was roasted alive upon
grid. The monastery. designed for
Hieronymite monks represents a bar
of the grid, and the royal apartment
another. The seminary IS a third. Dur
ing the course OF the construction Of
the building Philip occupied rude lodg-
ings ON the mountain side and super
vised the work, insisting upon severity
in decoration, and obsessed by the fear
that he might die before the pile should
be completed.
The first royal body to be laid to rest
in the tomb was a son OF Philip by his
fourth wife, Anne OF Austria, who died
at the age of seven. The second was
that Of his natural brother. Don John
of Austria, who died the next year. \
terrific storm swept over the noun
tains and married the ceremonies attend
ant upon transferring to the new tomb
the bodies Of several members Of the
royal family whose deaths occurred be-
fore the building was begun, and a
stroke of lightning split the solid
stones of one of the walls a little later
and started a conflagration that caused
great damage. The rumor that the Dew
II, in the form Of a tremendous dog
with wings, haunted the corridors drove
away some of the workmen, and the
heavy cost so increased taxation that
an uprising was treatened
Queen Anne's Burial
Queen Anne's body was borne to the
tomb when it was yet incomplete. and
for the fourth time Philip was left a
widower When his own mortal illness
overlook him in Madrid he ordered that
he should be conveyed to the Escorial
For nearly two months he was slowly
dying there. Just before dissolution
he caused himself to be borne from one
chamber to another that he might have
a last look at the building. The last
vaults were hewn after the body of the
builder of the Escorial had found its
resting place in one whose building he
had superintendent.
The pyramid of Cheops, which rears
it's granite mass from the edge of the
Egyptian desert near Cairo is believed
to have cost the lives of countless peas
ants impressed in the service of a des-
potic ruler, but there is nothing in eae
monument that suggests the Amos
phere Of tragedy that fills the CORR
doris Of the Escorial And among the
tombs of kings the Escorial stands
alone as defining the character of the
man who caused it to be built. ITO
understand Philip. study the Escorial,"
advises the author of a handbook who
set down the dimensions OF the puIId-
ing, and describes it's architecture.
ITO understand the Escorial, study
Philip" would be equally as good ad-
vice. The royal apartments are al
most as monkish in their simplicity as
the cells Of the Hieronymite fathers
Its treasures Of art interest the visitor.
but its fortress-lke appearance i'm
presses him. And the impression lasts
when the works of art have been for
gotten
Monument of Greatness
That the Escorial is II monument TO
the past greatness of country as we'll
as mausoleum of kings is a fact I'M
pressed by a block of marble, copper
lettered in the main edifice which tells
that the first stone was laid by Philip
IL. king Of all the SPANS. of the two
Sicilies, and Of Jerusalem. At that time
all the SPANS" included a good deal
of the two Americas, and the Spanish
tongue was spoken in every continent
The piety of Philip is indicated no
les by the austerity of tn eroyal apart
ments, suggesting a retreat for relig-
ious meditation rather than the luxury
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