Spanish Golden Age facts for kids

"El Siglo de Oro," literally "the century of gold," was the Golden Age of Spain. It was a period of flowering in Spanish art and literature. It happened at about the same time that the Spanish Habsburg dynasty ruled the country. El Siglo de Oro does not have precise dates and is generally considered to have lasted more than a century. It began no earlier than 1492, with the end of Reconquista (Reconquest), Christopher Columbus's first sea voyage to the New World, and the publication of Gramática de la lengua castellana by Antonio de Navarre. Politically, it ended no later than 1659, with the Pyrenees Treaty, which was ratified between France and Hapsburg Spain. The last great writer of the period, Pedro Calderón de la Barca, died in 1681, and his death is generally considered the end of El Siglo de Oro in art and literature.

Images for kids

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  In ictu oculi ("In the blink of an eye"), a vanitas by Juan de Valdés Leal

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  Façade of the Monastery of El Escorial

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  The realms of [[Philip II of Spain

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  Las Meninas (1656, English: The Maids of Honour) by Diego Velázquez

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  The Birth of the Virgin by Francisco de Zurbarán

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  The Virgin of the Rosary (1675–80) by Bartolomé Esteban Murillo

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  Entombment by Juan de Juni

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  Panoramic view of the lower level patio of the Palace

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  The library of El Escorial

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  Plaza Mayor with the Casa de la Panadería to the left

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  Inner view of the cathedral

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  Cathedral of Valladolid's façade

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  Contemporary printing of the sheet music for Tomás Luis de Victoria's Officium Defunctorum.

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  Cervantes' Don Quixote (1605), original title page

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  Title page of a comedy by Spanish playwright Lope de Vega

See also

In Spanish: Siglo de Oro para niños