La Granjilla de La Fresneda de El Escorial

La Fresneda (La Granjilla de La Fresenda de El Escorial) was the cottage of Philip II in the environment of Monastery of El Escorial. The Cottage was designed and built between c.1561 and 1569 by Gaspar de Vega, Juan Bautista de Toledo, Juan de Herrera, Pedro de Tolosa, Fray Marcos de Cardona and Petre Janson.

To symbolize his unification and centralization of power, in 1561 Philip II chose simultaneously Madrid as the capital of Spain and the hillside of Abantos, Sierra de Guadarrama to construct a Hieronymite Monastery, the Royal Monastery of San Lorenzo El Real, also known as Monastery of El Escorial, or simply, El Escorial. Also in 1561, the King commissioned Juan Bautista de Toledo to build a Royal Cottage (Real Casa de Campo) at La Fresneda, at that time a little village, at the foot of Abantos and Las Machotas, near the minor rural community of El Escorial.

Sited at the foot of Sierra de Guadarrama, La Granjilla de La Fresneda, as El Escorial is a, urbanistically unique, impressive and beautiful, multifunctional architectural complex: a place of woods, pastures and meadows with dams and artificial waterways, ponds and gardens; palace, chapel, tower, monastery for vacation of the monks of El Escorial and impressive granite boulders, as La Peña del Rey.

La Granjilla is located at 5 km. to the South-East of the Monastery of El Escorial and to 3 km. of the municipality of El Escorial, through M505. This natural and cultural treasure remains almost unknown to citizens, tourist managers, scientific community and natural, cultural and symbolic heritage protection authorities. La Granjilla is ignored by the public because by spurious interest, Comunidad Autónoma de Madrid prefers the tourist visit only El Escorial, Philip II, nearby, Palace, Library Basilica, Infirmary, Chemist Laboratory and Hieronimyte Monastery. Amazingly, only very few inhabitants of the municipalities of Madrid, El Escorial and San Lorenzo de El Escorial know La Granjilla, a place of History that Spanish, youngsters and adults, must know.

Philip II entrusted Marcos de Cardona, a Hieronyimite monk, with the design and care of the Royal Gardens, and Dutch hydraulic expert, Petre Janson, to oversee the creation of the four Royal Lakes. Both the monk and pond expert were working under the directions of Philip II and Juan Bautista de Toledo.

The highest and largest pond receives water from the Aulencia river. This pool provides water to the other three artificial lakes and to the whole complex through a system of dams, waterways and conduits -unique and inspired hydraulic archeology from the Spanish Renaissance.

The Royal Gardens in La Granjilla de La Fresneda and the Gardens of El Escorial (La Huerta del Monasterio) are very peculiar and unique Spanish Renaissance Royal Gardens; both of then are hybrids of a garden, a market garden, and an orchard. Its relevance is obvious in the context of previous Historical Royal Gardens and Royal Cottages: Gardens of Chateau of Chambord of Francis I of France; Gardens of Coundenberg of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, father of Philip II). La Granjilla de La Fresneda won the International Carlo Scarpa Award from the Benetton Foundation, for the management and conservation of Historical Gardens.

La Casa de Cammpo de Madrid, La Granjilla de La Fresndeda de El Escorial and El Canal de El Escorial (built to supply water to the Monastery), were designed by Juan Bautista de Toledo and Juan de Herrera. These civil engieering works were part of an extensive network of hydraulic, environmental and infrastructural transformations stretching out from Madrid to the slopes of Abantos and mountain-tops of Santa María de la Alameda, the starting point for El Canal de El Escorial, the catchment area of the Alberche river.

Time Line for La Granjilla de La Fresneda de El Escorial

World Heritage in Danger

La Granjilla is indivisible from the Monastery of El Escorial, its Cultural Landscape, Lakes and Monuments are in danger. We call the attention of citizens and authorities about the urgent need to adequate provisions to safeguard and enhance La Granjilla and to continue research into the many aspects of this unique cultural landscape that could be nominated World Heritage Site with the support of the Spanish Government, Madrid Autonomous C0nmunity, City Majors of El Escorial and San Lorenzo de El Escorial IUCN and ICOMOS. Decreto Comunidad de Madrid 52/2006 is worsening the situation.

Google Maps

* [http://www.google.com/maps?source=uds&q=loc%3A+escorial] El Escorial, Monastery and Site, La Granjilla, M505, M600

Google Video

* [http://video.google.es/videoplay?docid=1743908171430137676&q=Escorial] El Escorial, Monastery, Site and Environment, UNESO World Heritage Site
* [http://video.google.es/videoplay?docid=-4674808213114596669&q=Escorial] "La Granjilla de La Fresneda" and Monasterio de El Escorial.
* [http://video.google.es/videoplay?docid=-2439733136711051173&q=Escorial] Abantos a Balcony to the Cultural, Natural and Symbolic Landscape of El Escorial, Monastery, Site and Environment.
* [http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=23471983939206174&q=escorial] Devastation by excessive and unsustainable housing areas of the cultural landscape of El Escorial, UNESCO Word Heritage Site.

Bibliography

* La Fresneda. Un lugar de Felipe II en el entorno de El Escorial, Luis Cervera Vera - ISBN 84-89796-67-X. This book is published by Fundación Benetton as part of the Carlo Scarpa Award, represent an updated account of current knowledge about La Granjilla. Nevertheless the research is not finished.

* La Granjilla, Embalses y Canales by Rosario Aguadero Fernández, Juan Ignacio Contreras Garrido, José Mansilla Ramos and Jesús Sánchez Pulpí - ETS de Caminos, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid.

* El Conjunto Monacal y Cortesano de La Fresneda en El Escorial, Luis Cervera Vera - Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando.

* Arquitectura y Desarrollo Urbano, Tomo V, El Escorial y San Lorenzo de El Escorial - Comunidad Autónoma de Madrid, Colegio de Arquitectos de Madrid y Fundación Caja Madrid, ISBN 84-451-1513--8.

* Jardín y Naturaleza en el Reinado de Felipe II - Carmen Añón Feliu y José Luis Sancho

* La Octava Maravilla del Mundo, Estudio sobre El Escorial de Felipe II - Agustín Bustamante García, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, ISBN 84-381-0230-I.

* Canal de El Escorial, Sistema de Abastecimiento de Agua al Monasterio de El Escorial, Francisco J Martín Carrasco, Gabriel I Cuena López, J Pedro Mora Fernández t Rodrigo Vázquez Orellana - ETS de Caminos, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid.

* El Molino Caído de El Escorial, Carlos Nera Alvear, Juan C López Verdejo, Francisco J Sánchez Caro, José M Pérez Pozuelo - ETS de Caminos, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid.

* Caminos de Madrid a El Escorial en la Época de Felipe II y Puntos Singulares, Margarita Torres Rodríguez, Fernando Díez Rubio - ETS de Caminos, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid.

* Arqueología Industrial y Preindustrial en El Escorial, Antonio Pinel Mañas, M Concepción Martín Robles - ETS de Caminos, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid.

ee also

* El Escorial, Madrid
* Monasterio de El Escorial
* San Lorenzo de El Escorial, Madrid
* Valle de los Caídos