> did you know that philip ii built the monastery of el escorial to fight the devil? there was an iron mine in this place, with deep tunnels and long passages. the word escorial comes from escoria (dross from the mine) as it was littered here. according to the legend, the mine was the hells door, and the devil came in and out through it. obsessed as the king was with religion, he could not allow that! > the black dog during the construction of the monastery, a black dog prowled the site and frightened the workers. for this reason, construction was stopped on several occasions. over time, it was believed that the "infernal dog" was guarding the site, as the monastery was being built at one of the gates of hell. > the grill seen from above, the monastery looks like a grill. traditionally, people think that this was a tribute to saint lawrence who was burnt to death on a grill.
Spain