La construcción del entorno del Monasterio de San Lorenzo de El Escorial. Agua, territorio y paisaje

Abstract

Studies about the Monastery of El Escorial focused traditionally on the architectural, formal qualities of the monastic buildings, eluding other essential subjects as the infrastructures. It would have been impossible to develop the daily life wihout them. The needs of the different uses in such a complex ensemble needed a great set of buildings and infrastructures such as water supply and sewage, but also water mills and roads, to access and ensure the provisions. Our research deals with the study of all these hydraulic infrastructures, which were built continuously from the 16th century onwards, not only to serve the monastic buildings, but also the town of San Lorenzo. As complex net of civil works, it introduced in the territory and the landscape an essential set of landmarks, most of which still remain unknown.