The stone amphitheatre
Rings descending like theatre tiers into the quarry pit.
Photograph by Mike Peel (www.mikepeel.net). — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Photograph by Mike Peel (www.mikepeel.net). — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Photograph by Mike Peel (www.mikepeel.net). — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Photograph by Mike Peel (www.mikepeel.net). — CC BY-SA 4.0
**A stone amphitheatre descending into a disused volcanic ash quarry, holding more than a thousand species of cactus — and the last work César Manrique completed** — at Guatiza. ⚠ **The site was a quarry**: **a pit from which volcanic ash had been dug** ✅ **which Manrique turned in 1990 into a circular amphitheatre** — **stone rings descending like theatre tiers**, **with plants on every ring**. ✅ **The collection is genuinely large**: **more than **1,400 species** and some **10,000 plants**** from the Americas, Madagascar and the Canaries. ⚠ **And the site is chosen with intelligence**: **Guatiza is a district of **prickly pear** cultivation** — ✅ **grown to raise **the cochineal insect** for a valuable red dye**; **so the garden sits in its agricultural context**. ✅ **And a restored old windmill** stands above it.
Rings descending like theatre tiers into the quarry pit.
A restored mill above the garden with the overhead view.
Cacti from the Americas, Madagascar and the Canaries.
Carretera General del Norte, 35544 Guatiza, Las Palmas, Spain
**An insect crushed for a red dye that was among the world's most valuable goods — and its cultivation shaped the island's economy for a century.** ✅ **What it is**: ***cochinilla* is a small scale insect** ⚠ **living parasitically on **prickly pear pads****; ✅ **and the bodies of its females contain **carminic acid**** — **which yields **a crimson-red dye** of exceptional fastness and purity**. ⚠ **Why it was precious**: **before synthetic dyes, a fast red was **the hardest colour to produce****; ✅ **and cochineal gave a red that did not fade** — **so it was used for royal dress, British army redcoats and painting**; ⚠ **and exported at nearly its weight in gold**. ✅ **The history**: **it originates in Mexico** — ⚠ **and Spain monopolised it for centuries under strict secrecy**; ✅ **then it was introduced to the Canaries in the 19th century** when the vine crop collapsed, **and became **Lanzarote's principal cash crop****. ⚠ **Then the collapse**: **Europeans invented **synthetic aniline dyes** in the 1860s** — ✅ **far cheaper**; **so the price of cochineal collapsed and the island's economy with it**. ✅ **And a partial return today**: ⚠ **demand for **natural colourings** in food and cosmetics has revived small-scale production** — **and you see it on ingredient labels as E120**. ⚠ **And the prickly-pear fields around Guatiza are what remains of it.**