"El Jardín de Cactus" (The Cactus Garden) was opened in 1989 and is the last great work dedicated to tourism that César Manrique created on Lanzarote.

It was constructed like a spacious amphitheatre with wide terraces, using thick basalt stone walls as a means of enclosure. The ground is covered with a thick layer of volcanic ashes, similar to the typical fields of the island. Within the precincts of this centre, a selection of more than 1.400 succulent plants display their exotic shapes. Most of them are cacti, but there also are many other plants of similar morphology, that do not belong to the family of cacti.

Opposite the entrance, the bar and restaurant services are housed in very original buildings. The outside walls are covered with the same volcanic stone that were used for all the construction, thus creating an architectural effect of great harmony and exceptional beauty.

Most striking are the natural monoliths of sedimentary rock that remained, when many years ago the exploitation of this ancient lava ash quarry called "rofero" was abandoned.

The garden has been meaningfully situated in an area of the island, where the Indian figs are grown, on our archipelago called "tunera". Those cacti are used for the cultivation of the cochineal beetle ("dactylopius coccus"), the tiny insect from which the cochineal or carmine colouring is obtained.

In past times, this product was the mainstay of the island's economy. Despite its decline in importance following the discovery of aniline, due to its non-toxicity it is still widely used in products that have a direct contact with the human digestive system, e.g. cosmetics, sweets, certain drinks, sausages, etc.

The insect lives an immobile life, its long proboscis embodied in the cactus sucking its juices. They are preferably harvested in summer: scraped from the cacti with a spatula, agitated on a wooden tray, then left to dry in the sun for a few days, cleaned and sent to the factory for industrial processing.

An interesting annex to this original arts centre is the adjoining windmill. It is used for grinding the previously toasted grain, as was the case with many other windmills on the island. From this product the "gofio" is then made, the popular Canarian food of "Guanche" origin.

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