Its current layout is based on the project designed in 1838 by Timoteo Calvo Ibarra (1799-1879) to reform the old student patio. It consists of two porticos with columns and architraves on two storeys over the trapezoidal plan.

Its construction began in 1840 with the Tuscan colonnade corresponding to the Academic Theatre and the Assembly Hall. The lower floor was completed in 1870 by Sebastián Monleón (1815-1878). At the initiative of Principal José Monserrat, a bronze statue of Luis Vives, modeled by José Aixa (1844-1920) and molten by Vicente Ríos, was built on a high pedestal in the centre of the cloister to express the great development of classical humanities in the history of this university. It was surrounded by a garden of medicinal plants that recalled the important student tradition in botany and pharmacopoeia.

In 1902, to mark the four-hundredth anniversary of the foundation of the University, several medallions with busts in relief of relevant figures connected with the history of the institution were placed in the courtyard. In 1944, the Ionic colonnade on the first floor of the main patio was built by Javier Goerlich, who was also in charge of the crest that holds the clock.