The Orchid Show Spotlight: La Giraldilla
Posted in Exhibitions, The Orchid Show on April 6 2010, by Plant Talk
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Jessica Blohm is Interpretive Specialist for Public Education. |
The statue of La Giraldilla you see atop a tower in the Conservatory’s Palms Gallery reflecting pool as you enter The Orchid Show: Cuba in Flower represents one of the most ancient and best-loved symbols of the city of Havana. The statue sits atop one of the oldest stone fortresses in the Americas, Castillo de la Real Fuerza (Castle of the Royal Force), a defensive fort built in 1538 after an attack on Havana by French pirates.
The bronze statue, created by Cuban sculptor Jeronimo Martin Pinzon, was added to the Castle in the early 1630s. The female figure is thought to represent Doña Isabel de Bobadilla, wife of Cuban Governor Hernando de Soto. When Governor de Soto sailed from Havana in 1539 to conquer Florida, he left Doña Isabel to govern in his stead, making her Havana’s only female governor.
Legend has it that from that day on, Doña Isabel spent hours in the highest part of the Castle awaiting her husband’s return. Governor de Soto died four years after his departure from Cuba on the banks of the great river he discovered, the Mississippi. A few days later, Doña Isabel is reported to have died of a broken heart. She is posed forever looking out to sea for her husband’s ship.
