Palace for tourism
San Sebastián, 1865. Two years after the demolition of the city walls, the Association of Engineers of Gipuzkoa drafted a report that reflected the proposal to close the left entrance of the bay between Igeldo and Santa Clara. In this way, the bay would be a great port and the initiative would greatly strengthen the commercial character of the city. This option was on the table for almost 70 years, a project that the Donostiarras of several generations liked, but they saw a problem: the superport would damage the beaches.
In other words, trade or tourism should take precedence. And it was the real Spanish family that forced him to choose in favor of the second. In the mid-19th century, Queen Elizabeth II was recommended to bathe in the sea, for which the summers began to pass in San Sebastian. And in 1885, with the death of Alfonso XII, son of Isabel, the widow, María Cristina de Habsburg de Lorenza, decided to move the court from Madrid to San Sebastián in summer. But for this they needed a Royal Rural House. The queen purchased an 80,000 square meter seed that looked at the bay and commissioned the palace building project from the English architect Ralph Selden Wornum in 1889. Although the project was carried out by the architect José Goicoa, the Miramar Palace had the English style given to it by Selden Wornum.
Trade or tourism had to take precedence. And it was the real Spanish family that forced him to choose in favor of the second. In the middle of the 19th century, Queen Elizabeth II was recommended to bathe at sea, so summer began to pass in San Sebastián
As with the queen also the courtiers had to spend the summer in San Sebastian, the members of the nobility began to build around Miramar, mainly in Ondarreta, its palaces and summer houses. And as these buildings proliferate, the idea of the Donostian commercial port began to blur.
Maria Cristina died in 1929 and the palace would not last long in the hands of her son Alfonso XIII; in 1931 the Republic expropriated the palace and left it in the hands of the city council. Franco returned the palace to the royal family in 1958, specifically to Juan de Borbón. Finally, in 1972, the City had to buy Juan the palace and the grounds surrounding him, or at least those remaining within the property, as half of the land had already been sold by Borbon.
In recent decades Miramar has been the home of several institutions: Eusko Ikaskuntza-Sociedad de Estudios Vascos, Musikene, summer courses of EHu… For this they have had to carry out various reforms. For example, preparation work was carried out in 2001 for the Musikene classrooms. And now, in 2024, other refurbishment works will be launched in the palace, for which the Basque Government will allocate a budget of EUR 1.2 million. And the Miramar Palace will remain a symbol of a commercial character excluded from the choice of the monarchy by tourism.
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