In the second half of the 16th century, Philip II of Spain set out to use the revenues of the richest state in the world to create buildings worthy of his Habsburg inheritance and he chose a young and inexperienced gentleman soldier, Juan de Herrera, to be his principle architect. The remarkable partnership between the king and Herrera - courtier, intellectual and architect - lasted more than 30 years. The buildings they produced, among them the Escorial, the Merchants' Exchange in Seville and the urban renewal of Madrid, instilled new ideas that were to nourish Spain and European architecture for centuries to come. This treatment of Herrera examines the roles of a great architect and patron in their creation of a new era of Spanish architecture.
來源: Google Book