Royal Site of San Lorenzo de El Escorial
Vast granite royal monastery and palace with a crypt of marble royal tombs beneath its basilica.
Location
About this audio guide
This guide to the Royal Site of San Lorenzo de El Escorial outside Madrid opens with Philip II dying in 1598 in a monk's-cell of a room, crippled by gout, having cut a hole in the wall so he could watch the altar below from his bed. It follows what happens to a Spanish king's body after death here, carried first into a hidden, windowless chamber called the pudridero, where flesh must fall from bone before the remains can be moved. Listen for how long that wait can take, and what finally follows it.
This audio guide was created using AI.
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