The Giraldilla appears on the label of Havana Club rum, which gives prestige to our Island, besides being a loyal watchtower of bronze in Havana. (Photo: havana-club.com)
Monument to loyalty turned into symbol of one of the cities full of history and legends, the Giraldilla is a fountain of artistic inspiration from the memorable time of the Spanish colonization in Cuba.
From her height-in other times- Castle of the Royal Force, still watching the bay, the way in and out of vessels sailing through the port; perhaps remembering the time when Doña Isabel de Bobadilla, in the long run governor of the village Saint Christopher of Havana, also tried to catch sight of her husband’s arrival, who had left in 1539 for a mission of conquest beyond the sea.
People say that obsessive with the hope of news, someday, of Captain General of Cuba, Don Hernando De Soto, she would spend the time looking at the sea, her sight lost in the infinite, where the imaginary line joins the firmament; who knows how her thoughts flew, longing for a love that confined her to loneliness.
The last years of her life were like that in the Caribbean island, never knowing about her husband’s death, who failed in the attempt of knowing the Mississippi River, and ironically speaking, far less to reach his goal of discovering the Fountain of the Eternal Youth, in that attractive place of the American continent.
People say that obsessive with the hope of having someday news of Captain General and governor of Florida, Don Hernando de Soto, she spent time watching the sea, with her sight lost in the infinity, where the imaginary line joins the firmament. Who knows how her thoughts flew, longing for a love that confined her to loneliness.
Isabel’s last years of her life were like that, in the about Caribbean Island, without ever knowing about her husband’s death, who had failed in an attempt to know the Mississippi River, and ironically, and far less to reach his purpose of discovering the Fountain of the Eternal Youth in that attractive place of the American Continent.
The behaviour of them both and the passing of time, contributed to turn those facts memorable, which is why sculptor from Havana Jerónimo Martín Pinzón made a statuette with the shape of a weather vane as a woman, measuring 110 centimeters high, with the inscription of her name in a locket, hanging from her breast, and her body covered with a skirt, tied over herright thigh.
From the third decade of the XVII Century, the original Giraldilla –today it is kept in the City Museum- holds in her right hand the trunk of a palm tree; in her left hand a staff, i.e. the Cross from Calatrava, Order to which the Spanish Governor belonged.
The present replica substituted the first one, which the cyclone from October 20, 1926 pulled out of her pedestal and made it fall into the yard of the ancient castle, near the port of Havana. But in essence it continues to be emblematic for the world. It appears on the label of Havana Club rum, which gives prestige to our Island, besides being a loyal watchtower of bronze in Havana.
Translated by: Reinaldo Fernández
