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Trip ideas  /  3 days in San Sebastián  /  Miramar Palace
Miramar Palace, San Sebastián, Basque Country
Historic site · San Sebastián, Basque Country

Miramar Palace

A royal summer house.A palace finished in 1893.A tunnel under the garden.Bought by the city in 1972.

Photo: Generalpoteito, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

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Summers

A queen came for sea baths and her successor moved the court here

San Sebastián's bond with the Spanish crown began with Isabella II, who in the mid-19th century summered in the city to take sea baths. It grew stronger when Maria Christina of Austria, widowed, moved the court's summer location to the city.

A new house

A church had to be moved to make room for the palace

Maria Christina commissioned the Royal Summer House from the English architect Selden Wornum. The site was an estate above La Concha Bay where a monastery had stood, and the church of El Antiguo had to be moved to a nearby site. The palace was finished in 1893.

A tunnel

Trams run through a false tunnel under the palace gardens

The construction of the palace required a false tunnel for the crossing of the trams. The tunnel passes under the palace gardens. A new building, the Prince's Pavilion, was added in 1920.

Today

Summer courses and film festival parties take place here

The gardens are open to the public at fixed hours, and the noble rooms can be visited on guided tours. The palace houses the summer courses of the University of the Basque Country, and parties are held in the gardens and rooms during the San Sebastián International Film Festival.

The republic

The Second Republic took the palace, then it went back to the family

After Maria Christina's death in 1929 the palace passed to Alfonso XIII, and the government confiscated it in 1931 with the Second Republic. In 1933 it went to the City Council. In 1972 the council bought the remaining 34,136 square metres from Don Juan de Borbón.

Day 2, midday

It comes after La Concha beach and promenade. Then Peine del Viento.

More stories from this trip idea

The words are a retelling of the Wikipedia article Miramar Palace, and are shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. They are checked against those articles, and a fact that is not in them is left out.

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