Escorial

alternative Escurial

1. El Escorial, a royal palace in Madrid.

   The discovery of gold in Brazil fired the religious fervour of John V (1706-50) to heights of gorgeous, archaic extravagance, immortalized in the monastery-palace of Mafra, which was built as a rival to the Escorial and Versailles by a huge army of draft labour over eighteen years.

   1992, Edwin Williamson, The Penguin history of Latin America, London; New York: Penguin Books, →ISBN, page 73