Royal Library of El Escorial

RoyalSpain

San Lorenzo de El Escorial, Spain. Founded 1565.

Overview

Philip II gathered a humanist library for his monastery palace and ordered it frescoed with scenes of the arts and sciences by Pellegrino Tibaldi. The marble floored hall runs 54 meters, shelving about 45,000 rare volumes, many in original sixteenth century bindings. The complex, a UNESCO site since 1984, stands in the Guadarrama mountains near Madrid.

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