page_title: San Lorenzo de El Escorial
section_title: Main sights
hierarchical_section_title: San Lorenzo de El Escorial / Main sights
caption_attribution_description: Fachada de la basílica del monasterio de El Escorial, en Madrid.
context_page_description: San Lorenzo de El Escorial, also known as El Escorial de Arriba is a town and municipality in the Community of Madrid, Spain, located to the northwest of the region in the southeastern side of the Sierra de Guadarrama, at the foot of Mount Abantos and Las Machotas, 47 kilometres from Madrid. It is head of the eponymous judicial party. The settlement is popularly called El Escorial de Arriba, to differentiate it from the neighbouring village of El Escorial, also known as El Escorial de Abajo.
  The Monastery of El Escorial is the most prominent building in the town and is one of the main Spanish Renaissance monuments. Especially remarkable is the Royal Library, inside the Monastery.
  The monastery and its historic surroundings were declared a World Heritage Site UNESCO on November 2, 1984, under the name of "El Escorial, monastery and site".
  The site also enjoys protection on Spain's heritage register; since June 21, 2006, it has been protected by the Community of Madrid as a Property of Cultural Interest.
  San Lorenzo de El Escorial is located on the southern slopes of the Mount Abantos.
context_section_description: The town has an important historical-artistic, urban and cultural heritage, a result of its link with the Spanish crown. It adds relevant ecological, geological and archaeological values.
  Part of the monument is listed with the heritage UNESCO. In addition, this site has been awarded bien de Interés Cultural, in the category of historical sites, with the name of "Escorial: monastery, natural and cultural environment", from the community of Madrid.
  The last legal figure, approved by Decree 52/2006 (June 21), also includes the towns of El Escorial, Zarzalejo and Santa María de la Alameda. This is the area which was within the so-called domain of Philip II, with which the monarch delineated the perimeter of the royal site in the area around the Monasterio.
caption: Basilica of the Escorial [es] of the Monastery of El Escorial
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