6/15/07 Bilbao and San Sebatian

Today we are in Bilboa and about to take off to San Sebastian.
We are going over chapters 6-8 in our Story of Spain book.

Madrid was founded by the Moors in the 9th century. Madrid did not become the capital of Spain til 1561 under Felipe II a member of the House of Hapsburg. The Hapsburgs were the most important royal dynasty in Europe. Felipe II was the key figure in the family. Felipe's reign began with a sigh of relief throughout Europe at the breakup of the awesome Hapsburg domains, and there was peace for several years. The last century had witnessed the decline of powerful city states such as Venice. The Bourbons later took control of Spain in 1713 through the war of the Spanish succession.

In Madrid we went to visit the famous museum The Prado. In this museum there were alot of 16th and 17th century painting by many famous artists like, Goya, Gaudi, Vasquez and many more. The main painting we focused on was the painting by Fransisco Goya the Second of May. His works inspired many of other artists. This painting shows a scene from the Spanish War. His work is very life like it has a sense of like you are looking at a picture. In the painting you can see suffering and anguish in the peoples faces. Goya shows much detail with the blood and the scared people in the back ground. even though this painting is very gory it is a great painting.