Logbook · 5 places

La Granjilla de La Fresneda

El Escorial, Cuenca del Guadarrama, Madrid

1 Villages · 3 Monuments · 1 Historical milestones

Spain › Community of Madrid › Cuenca del Guadarrama › El Escorial › La Granjilla de La Fresneda

La Granjilla de La Fresneda

Monument · El Escorial, Cuenca del Guadarrama, Madrid

La Granjilla de La Fresneda, historically known as the parque de La Fresneda, is a pleasure house that Juan Bautista de Toledo designed for Philip II on the grounds of the former village of La Fresneda, in the municipality of El Escorial, as an enclosed hunting reserve for the monarch and the Hieronymite monks of the monastery. It was built between 1561 and 1569 and includes, on a 148-hectare estate, a Herrerian palace surrounded by Renaissance gardens with a concept similar to that of Madrid's Casa de Campo, with five royal ponds fed from the río Aulencia and overseen by the Dutchman Petre Janson, as well as a convent and the church of San Juan Bautista. Declared a bien de interés cultural (Spain's highest level of heritage protection), it is part of the Ruta Imperial that runs through the places linked to Philip II as far as El Escorial.

Photo: Rodelar (CC BY-SA 3.0)

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