Monastery and Site of the Escurial, Madrid

Built at the end of the 16th century on a plan in the form of a grill, the instrument of St Lawrence's martyrdom, the Escurial stands in an exceptionally beautiful site in Castile. UNESCO says its austere architecture, a break with earlier styles, influenced Spanish building for more than half a century; it was the retreat of a mystic king and, in the last years of Philip II's reign, the centre of the greatest political power of the time.

Built between 1563 and 1584 by order of Philip II, El Escorial is the largest Renaissance building in the world and serves at once as monastery, basilica, royal palace, pantheon, library, museum, university, school and hospital. Wikivoyage explains it was commissioned as a mausoleum for Charles V: almost every Spanish king since, and every queen who reigned or bore a king, lies in the Pantheon of Kings below the basilica, where no space remains for future monarchs.

More on the UNESCO listing More on Wikipedia