Emplacement: The province of Madrid is limited at North by a mountain chain known as Sierra de Guadarrama, just the Sierra for the Madrileños. The Royal Site of El Escorial is placed on the slope of the Abantos peak (1754 m), at the West half of the Sierra, 50 Km North-West of Madrid City. Lowlands extending between El Escorial and the City are those of the valleys of the Guadarrama and the Manzanares rivers.

The Sierra: The Sierra is a granite mountain formation from the Quaternary that belongs to the Iberian Central System. Its orientation is North-East to South-West, and it draws the border with the provinces of Segovia and Ávila. Its highest elevation is the Peñalara peak (2430 m), placed at its centre. Vegetation changes with altitude, from Holm oak (Quercus rotundifolia), ash tree (Fraxinus angustifolia) and Iberian oak (Quercus pyrenaica) forests in lowlands, to pine forests (Pinus sylvestris) in slopes, and high-mountain grasslands on tops. Glaciers were present until the last glacial period, and big stone formations derived from the action of glaciers are common. The human pressure on the area has been strong since Madrid was designed as capital of the kingdom of Spain in the XVI century, and the wild fauna of mammals has become reduced mainly to resistant species, like foxes and wild boars, although deers may be still seen in a few protected areas. Bird fauna is rich and includes some of the biggest European species, like the lion vulture, several eagles and both the white and black storks. The typical flora is Mediterranean, with occasional Atlantic and Alpine influences. Climate is Mediterranean humid, with a extreme temperature range from -20 to 30 oC along the year at the highlands. As in many other places of the Iberian peninsula, insect diversity is remarkable, with many endemic species.

History: At the middle of the XVI century, El Escorial was just a small village dedicated to cattle farming and survival agriculture. In 1568, the king Philippe II chosen a scenic area on the slope of the peak Abantos, around two kilometres up to El Escorial, to built a great monastery for its retirement. On 10 August, 1557, the French king Henry II was defeated by Philippe II in the battle of St Quentin. In acknowledgment, the king dedicated the monastery to St Lawrence. The building was designed by Juan Bautista de Toledo, and the project was modified by Juan de Herrera, who ended the works in 1584. During his last years, Philippe spent many time at the Monastery, and this small place of the Sierra became a second emplacement for the government of the biggest empire in the World. A new village grew around the royal site, and further improvements were made by other kings. Philippe IV ended the works of the Pantheon, that harbours the graves of all the Spanish kings, and Charles III improved the village with new official buildings during the XVIII century. Nevertheless, El Escorial looks like a small and peaceful village, and is a valuable place of week-end and summer vacations for the "best dressed" society of Madrid.

The Monastery: The art of the Renaissance mixed in Spain with the tradition of the Middle Age to produce the Plateresco, an architectural style proper of the first half of the Spanish XVI century. Such an style was yet quite far from the purity of lines of the Italian Renaissance, but the architects Juan Bautista de Toledo and Juan de Herrera introduced in the Monastery of San Lorenzo the Italian canons, adapting them to the character of the Spanish society. At that time, such a character was extremely austere, a circumstance that can be easily appreciated in the serious lines of the building. In the honour of St Lawrence, who was burned on a grill, the shape of the sole of the Monastery is that of a grill, with closed courtyards drawing the holes. It harbours, among many other things, a huge church, the Pantheon of the Kings, and a remarkable library with a large collection of paintings. The Monastery has been designated by the UNESCO as a piece of the Patrimony of Humanity.

The Saint Cross of the Valle de los Caídos: This megalithic construction is placed just six kilometres from El Escorial, and uses to take part of the visit to the Monastery in the plans of the tourism agencies. It is a big church dogged into the rock of the mountain, which displays on its top a huge cross of stone, 150 metres high. The monument was built between 1940 and 1959 by the general Franco, and was presented as a sign of re-conciliation after the Spanish Civil War. However, the true is that it was built by republican prisoners, who died by hundreds during works. It harbours the graves of the dictator Franco and of the former chief of the Spanish fascist party, José Antonio Primo de Rivera. Feelings about this monument are still controversial among the Spaniards.

The forest of La Herrería: Placed on the slope of the hills facing the South façade of the Monastery, this beautiful forest was a royal hunting territory that remained closed to the public for centuries. Thanks to that, the forest has come to present almost intact, and it is now one of the best examples of the forests of oaks that covered in the past the lower slopes of the Sierra. Ash trees, Iberian oaks, chestnut trees, willows and a rare maple tree (Acer monspessulanum), mix with wild rose trees and bushes to make a dense forest that looks like a tropical one at Spring. On the top of a small hill, a big stone offers an excellent view of the Monastery. It is said that the king Philippe came often to that stone to survey the works of the building, so that it is known at present as the Chair of Philippe II. We have spent, since our teen age, many hours in this wonderful forest, which we love even more than our own garden. The collection of pictures of insects included in this article comes from our long walks in La Herrería (The Forge).