Friday, May 28, 2010

Augustinian Connections

It was the eighth Wonder of the World- no one had seen anything this massive and ambitious before: a monastery, church, palace, and royal pantheon all wrapped into one. –Penelope Casas, “Discovering Spain”

On Friday, we visited San Lorenzo de El Escorial, where we were kindly welcomed by Father Carlos Alonso, an Augustinian priest who met us during the first Convivencia to Spain last year. We received a private tour of the Monastery, and our favorite part was climbing the bell tower to take in the beautiful view of the surrounding area, which is pictured above.

El Escorial, a palace built by Filipe II, was originally built to commemorate Spain’s victory over France at Saint Quentin. The victory occurred on the Feast of Saint Lawrence (San Lorenzo), so the area is called, San Lorenzo de El Escorial. Some of the highlights were seeing the Pantheon where many of the Spanish kings and queens are buried and the Library, accentuated with antique globes and ceiling frescos. The oldest work is from the fifth century, written by our own Saint Augustine.

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