THE ESCORIAL.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 3364, 16 November 1872, Page 5 (Supplement)

THE ESCORIAL.

A telegram received by the San Francisco mail announced the occurrenco of a serious fire, caused by lightning, in this world-renowned building. The following interesting description of the Escorial is taken from tho Loiauro Hour of the Ist May, 18G8 :—

The first sight of tho Escorial is disappointing, particularly if the imagination has been wrought up to a high pitch by glowing description. I may begin by giving some idea of tho dimensions of tho building. It is nearly in the form of a quadrangle, and for convenience sake wo we will tako each of the four Bides at 750 feet. It in said to represent a gridiron, being bo built after the legendary niodo of tho death of St. Lawrence, to whose honour tho place was dedi cated in a vow by Philip 11. ; hence it ia properly called San Loi-eri£o el Real—tho four turrets at the corners forming the inverted feet, mid the Royal apartments the handle of tho gridiron. It stands about 250/0 feet above tho level of the sea, in th« bosom of a semicircle of rugged, barren hills, and tho whole surrounding scenery at this season presents a very desolate appearance. When you havo gone round the exterior of the building you can come to no other conclusion than that it ia a gaol, a reformatory, or penitentiary. There aro said to bo 11,000 windows, more or Icsh, in the building. There are five rows of these, and tho two latter aro iron-barred, still carrying out tho idea of a gaol. The windowß aro simply holes in the wall, live by threo feet, without any attempt at ornament. Tho exterior is built of a line light-brown stone, as fresh as when it came from the hands of the mason. There are no grand porticoes or ornaments to arrest the eye : everything is in keeping, of tho simplest and purest Doric. The interior is composed of massive blocks of grey granite ; tho pillars, arches, and roof seem to be hewn out of the solid granite, rock. 1 have never seen anything in which strength, solidity, and simplicity were so happily combined. Wo were shown round the apartments by a guide, but the sight is scarcely worth the labour. The walls aro hung with Spanish tapestry, with a great deal of very pretty marqueterie round tho pannelling of tho walla. We wero shown the small and solitary apartments of its bigoted founder, Philip 11., where ho held counsel with his priests and confessors. From these apartments, a passage led into the church. I havo spent days in St. Peter's, in Rome, and could return again and again to its artistic details ; but, hero you have merely the grandest maaa of unadorned granite, wrought into classic form of tho simplest order. Tho eye has nothing specially to rest upon, unless it may bo the freacood roof of the choir,, which stands somo forty feet above the nave, and is on the opposite side of the ftllar. If it is a complaint that St. Peter's is ifio ornamental for devotional purposes, this building is at least free from this fault. Certainly its founder had a noble conception of what a great temple, devoted to tho living God, ought to be ; for here there is nothing but magnitude and space to divert the attention from tho solemn and impressive service. .

Tho ground plan of the palace in composed of some fifty courts—in faci r carrying out the idea of the bars or meshes of the gridiron ; and in most of these aro fountains of water playing. I spent tho whole day wandering through these courts and apartments, and tho only impression left on my mind is, that this vast building, which cost fifteen millions sterling, and, like Versailles, laid tho foundation of national bankruptcy, is now only and admirably adapted for ft penitentiary. I had almost forgotten the Pantheon, or royal tomba of the kings and queens'of Spain, immediately under tho great altar. Tho gxiide supplied us with lights, and we wero led down a stair, under a sloping arch lined with fine coloured marble. At the bottom, of this stair is an octagon vault, of some forty, feet in height and diameter, and around the building are the marble coflins, or sarcophagi, of the Kings and Queens of Spain, from the father and founder down to perhaps the last of the Bourbons ; and there are still a number of empty coffins waiting to receive the: ashes of majesty.

The whole building originally consumed of a paicice, a convent, and a tomb, and was a sort of earthly paradise from, "which tho holy Philip, might make his apotttoosia,. The church, with its beautiful dome, tm& the library, with ita arched feesco- r©6f and marble pavement, and the- marble and porphyry reading tables, which are never used, and t':o massive book-cases, which are never opened, are the chief attractions of the building. The guide had a long atory about the number of fountains, cloisters, stair-cases, court-yards, &c, bnt somehow Or other it was all lost upon us, and it was a happy relief .to get out into the open air.