Palacio de la Magdalena: A Royal Summer Residence in Santander
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.6
- Popularity
- Very High
- Country
- Spain
- Primary era
- Modern
- External website
- Open
- Eras represented
- Modern
- Civilizations
- Spanish
- Site type
- Domestic
- Remains
- Palace
On this page7 sections
History
Palacio de la Magdalena in Santander, Spain, is an eclectic palace built for the Spanish royal family between 1909 and 1912. Designed by José Ordóñez, Gonzalo Bringas, and Javier González de Riancho, it was planned as a seasonal residence and helped redirect Santander’s urban and social development toward the Magdalena Peninsula and El Sardinero.
From royal project to summer residence
The palace followed an earlier royal-residence project at El Sardinero, which had been halted by the revolution of 1868. That scheme was intended to make Santander a recurring destination for royal and upper-class summer stays, encouraging the city’s growth. The municipality later organized a competition for a new palace, which was won by the project of Ordóñez, Bringas, and González de Riancho.
Construction began in 1909 and was financed through popular subscription by the municipality and local families. The work cost 700,000 pesetas in 1912. The Sociedad El Sardinero contributed 100,000 pesetas, while the Botín family contributed 1,000 pesetas. Financial difficulties affected the project closely enough that the executive commission bought Christmas lottery tickets in an unsuccessful attempt to raise its fortunes.
Labor unrest also interrupted construction. Stone workers went on strike during Santander’s disturbances in 1911, delaying completion. The palace could not be delivered to the royal family until 1912. Alfonso XIII, king of Spain from 1886 until the establishment of the Second Republic in 1931, received the commission on 21 January 1912. Its members were Ramón Pérez Eizaguirre, president of the provincial deputation, Santander mayor Ángel Lloreda, former member of parliament Pedro Acha, and Dr. Manuel Sánchez-Saráchaga. Their meeting concerned the formal taking of possession by the royal family.
Queen Victoria Eugenia of Battenberg directed the furnishing of the palace in 1913. Alfonso XIII and his family then used it as their summer residence, arriving each year from 1913 through 1930. The property also served for recreation, sporting activities, and occasional government meetings. Their summer stays ended after the proclamation of the Second Spanish Republic in 1931, a republican regime that governed Spain from 1931 to 1939.
University use and wartime history
Academic activity had already begun at the palace in 1918, when summer courses were organized through an agreement with the University of Liverpool. The palace stood empty from April 1931 until the establishment of the International Summer University of Santander on 23 August 1932. A republican decree made the building the university’s headquarters. Fernando de los Ríos and Francisco Barnés promoted the institution, with Ramón Menéndez Pidal as its first president and Pedro Salinas as its first secretary.
The university’s activities were suspended during the Spanish Civil War, the armed conflict fought in Spain from 1936 to 1939. They resumed in 1938 at the Hospital of San Rafael. From 1937 to 1940, a nearby field beside the beach served as a concentration camp. Prisoners were held in the building that now functions as the palace auditorium, beside the stables. The camp had been planned for 600 prisoners, while its records list 1,838.
The Menéndez Pelayo International University returned to the palace in late 1949. Its origins lay in the 1932 summer university, and it subsequently used the complex for courses, conferences, workshops, exhibitions, and music events. A meeting held there in 1952 led to the creation of CEDI, a European political and cultural organization commonly rendered in English as the European Documentation and Information Centre.
Municipal ownership and later adaptation
In 1977, Juan de Borbón, Count of Barcelona, sold the palace and the peninsula to the City Council of Santander for 150 million pesetas. The transaction took place during Juan Hormaechea’s mayoralty and was politically controversial. Left-wing parties argued that the city had effectively given the property to the royal family in 1911. The university retained use of the palace and stables, while the rest of the peninsula became a municipal public park.
The palace was declared a historical-artistic monument in 1982 and is protected as a cultural monument under the designation “Palacio de la Magdalena y sus Jardines,” reference RI-51-0004592. Between 1993 and 1995, the City Council and the Menéndez Pelayo International University carried out rehabilitation work under a project by Luis de la Fuente. The building was substantially adapted for offices and meeting rooms and continues to serve the university as a venue for conferences and meetings.
The palace helped establish Santander as a summer destination for Spain’s upper classes. Its eclectic regionalist architecture combined local mountain-Baroque traditions with English and French influences, while its presence encouraged development toward the Magdalena and El Sardinero areas. Tourism also helped compensate for the city’s port-related economic crisis and the decline of its traditional maritime commerce. The palace remains one of Santander’s principal symbols. Its exterior was used for filming the Spanish television series Gran Hotel from 2011 to 2013, and it hosted the wedding of actors Javier Veiga and Marta Hazas in 2016.
Remains
Palacio de la Magdalena stands on the Magdalena Peninsula, opposite Mouro Island and near an entrance to Santander Bay. The peninsula is a wooded public peri-urban park linking the maritime areas of El Sardinero with the city centre. The palace occupies the site of the former San Salvador de Hano fort, which protected the bay entrance. Excavations on the peninsula indicate human presence from the first century during the Roman period and have uncovered dock installations and various objects.
The palace building
The palace is an eclectic work combining English, French, and regional mountain-Baroque influences. English features include the arrangement of the exterior masses, numerous chimneys, and the forms of the windows. French influence appears in the asymmetrical building components and the principal double-flight staircase. The building became the leading example of an eclectic regionalist style in Cantabria, partly derived from the English picturesque palace of Hornillos.
Its plan consists of a long body measuring approximately 91 by 21 metres, with a northern projection measuring 20 by 20 metres. Asymmetrical elevations, repeated projections, and recessed sections make the building appear as a group of interlocked masses. The northern entrance was intended for carriages and includes a porte-cochere, a covered passage where carriages could stop under shelter. The southern entrance is the principal entrance and has two octagonal towers with a double-flight staircase.
The walls are built of rubble masonry from Cueto, using irregular stones set in mortar, and the roofs are covered with slate. Reception rooms contain paintings by Luis Benedito, Joaquín Sorolla y Bastida, and Fernando Álvarez de Sotomayor. The building’s present arrangement also reflects its later adaptation for university offices and meeting rooms.
Royal Stables
The Royal Stables were designed by Javier González de Riancho and built in 1914 around a small square on level ground beside the beach. Their two-storey buildings imitate an idealized medieval English village. Small towers, steeply pitched pointed roofs, exposed timber framing, and Georgian features give the complex a distinct architectural character within the peninsula.
After the International University began using the stables, the buildings were converted into student accommodation. Their first floor now contains conference rooms with translation rooms, projectors, and related facilities, while the complex also includes dining rooms. During their use as a concentration camp from 1937 to 1940, the stables formed part of the prisoner complex. More than 1,600 prisoners were held there, despite a planned capacity of 600, and detainees were taken collectively to La Magdalena Beach to bathe, including during winter.
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