At the highest point of La Magdalena Peninsula, surrounded by woods and cliffs, stands the Royal Palace, built by popular subscription as summer residence of Kings Alfonso XIII and Victoria Eugenia. An event that changed the history of the city, turning the Cantabrian capital into a summer court and a tourist destination for most of the aristocracy and bourgeoisie of the country and therefore the main economic and social driving force of Santander.
For a century it bore witness to the recent history of the city and the country. In 1933 it became the Summer International University of Santander, a brilliant educative project, the seeds of the current Menéndez Pelayo International University (UIMP) that nowadays finds in this building its most famous headquarters and where, every year, its prestigious summer courses are held. It is the most emblematic building of the city together with the Botín Art Centre, which is being built in the Albareda quay.