History

Flor de Santiago, or Jacobean Lily¹, is the name commonly given to one of the most beautiful and most symbolic flowers of the plant Kingdom. Its botanical surname, Formosissima as it has come down to us, means “pleasant to behold” (as the illustrious Swedish botanist, Carl von Linné, put it in 1753). Flor de Santiago is an exotic flower, which blossoms on its own, with unspeakable majesty and beauty. But Flor de Santiago is, above all, “an element of symbolic communication”, bright red in colour and quite singular in shape – like a cross. The original name, Atzcalxóchitl in Nahuatl, is the first symbolic reference pertaining to this flower, which originates in Mexico, and which was always prominent in the great ceremonies of Mesoamerica, such as Cerro de la Estrella. It could also be found in many Royal Botanical Gardens, such as Montezuma II’s. The Flower came to Spain towards the end of the XVI century, enveloped in “a wooden arch”, as part…+Info

The suggestive beauty of its incredible harmonious structure, so charged with colour, so fascinating in appearance, surges forth amongst us, from the remote horizons of the unknown, through the thick foliage of unfamiliar landscapes to become, today, the floral symbol of Santiago. It is probably the most beautiful of all worldly flowers. In addition to the appellation by which it is most commonly known, it also bears a name that links it to the great western myth of Christianity, not to mention to the hordes of guardians of great valour who galloped with the swiftness of the wind across the well trodden paths of the middle ages. Thus did it emerge, as though issued from the intangible folds of time carefully handwritten and sketched, to become indelibly etched in the mystery of that old city of soutanesque sombreness, through rain, and sun and stone, and stone and sun and rain, with voices and shades further shrouded in rain and sun and stone…+Info