Lily: Flower and Symbol

References to the lily date back to ancient times. Various parts of this bulbous plant were used for medicinal and cosmetic purposes, a practice that continues to this day. Its flowers soon became a favoured artistic motif — in ancient art, they carried meanings of fertility, abundance, and purity.

In Christianity, the white lily became a symbol of the innocence of body and mind, particularly through the biblical Song of Songs, where the bride is compared to a closed garden, a rose, or a lily. These poetic metaphors were interpreted as allegories of the Church or the Virgin Mary. In terms of moral purity, the lily also appears as an attribute of certain saints.

In ancient art, other colour variants are rarely encountered — the exception was the red lily, understood as an exotic Asian plant. From the 19th century onwards, artists focused primarily on the natural beauty of various lily species, yet the Christian undertone of the white lily's symbolism of purity and virginity persists to this day.