Founded by the Duke of Calabria, the San Miguel de los Reyes Monastery is one of the best examples of the Valencian Renaissance, and can be considered the prototype for El Escorial, as it was designed to be a Royal Pantheon, a Hieronymite monastery, a college and a church. However, various mishaps prevented the project from being completed in its entirety. The two architects who designed it in 1546 were Alonso de Covarrubias and Juan de Vidaña. Following the death of the Duke, the construction was interrupted for more than twenty years. Other criteria were then considered, but the first group of buildings fully assumes the Renaissance style.
Recently restored and inaugurated (in 1999) it serves as the Valencian Library.
References:The Château du Lude is one of the many great châteaux of the Loire Valley in France. Le Lude is the most northerly château of the Loire Valley and one of the last important historic castles in France, still inhabited by the same family for the last 260 years. The château is testimony to four centuries of French architecture, as a stronghold transformed into an elegant house during the Renaissance and the 18th century. The monument is located in the valley of Le Loir. Its gardens have evolved throughout the centuries.