Kaditz Lime Tree

The large-leaved lime tree (Tilia platyphyllos) is 20 metres (66 ft) high and is estimated to be between 500 and 1,000 years old.

The lime is situated next to the Protestant Emmaus Church, which is surrounded by a 5,400 square metres (58,000 sq ft) cemetery.

[4] The Elbe Cycle Route, which is over 20 kilometres (12 mi) long, passes through Kaditz past the lime tree.

In 1430, the Hussites set St. Lawrence's Chapel on fire, but due to favourable wind conditions the tree only suffered minimal damage.

[5] Despite enlargement of the churchyard in 1737, the continual shortage of space meant that some of the graves had to be placed close to the lime tree.

[6] The fire leapt from the parsonage onto the big lime tree and destroyed one half of the trunk, which burned down to the core.

[6] Many drawings and pictures of the lime tree have emerged, one of which was displayed at an art exhibition in Dresden, which contributed to its growing popularity.

[12] Sachsens Kirchen-Galerie aus dem Jahre 1836 enthält Angaben zur Größe des Stammes und einen Vergleich zu anderen Linden: „Auf dem Kirchhofe zu Kaditz befindet sich eine Linde, die ihres Umfanges und hohen Alters wegen bemerkenswerth ist.

Die bekannte große Linde bei Augustusburg mißt 18 ½ Ellen im Umfange ihres Stammes.

"[4] In der Zeitschrift Das Vaterland der Sachsen aus dem Jahre 1844 wird ausführlich über die Kaditzer Linde berichtet:[15] The journal Saxony's Church Gallery (Sachsens Kirchen-Galerie) from 1836 contains references to the size of the trunk and compares it to other lime trees: "There is a lime tree in the churchyard of Kaditz, which is remarkable due to its circumference and great age.

For while the ancient lime tree of Augustusburg has a circumference of slightly more than 18 ells, and while the one in Annaberg, which is especially remarkable because it must once have been planted upside down in its former location, do not reach this girth, the periphery of the trunk of the Kaditz lime tree, with a height of 8 to 10 ells, measures not less than 39 ½ feet.and According to a not improbable report given by older residents, the old trunk of the lime tree served as a pillory for those who had forfeited church penance; and indeed some iron rings and clips, almost completely overgrown by the bark, can still be found in the trunk.

This created over time the big, chimney-like holes in the trunk, through which many a jocund fellow crawled in order to present his head merrily to his playmates as a young fruit of the old tree.

"[11] On 7 June 1925, a war memorial that stands about 22 yards away from the lime tree was inaugurated in a ceremonial act.

[13] In 1945 in the early days after the World War II, an inhabitant of Kaditz was said to have hidden in the hollow trunk by night in order to escape the raids in the houses.

On 3 September 1985 the area was declared a natural monument, along with 30 further trees, according to a resolution passed by Dresden city council.

Dresden's regional city council however rejected the application after countless residents and members of open institutions had voiced their opposition.

The water stopped at the highest point of the area, on the threshold of the church and just in front of the lime tree's main trunk.

After it burned down to a torso in the village fire of 1818, the lime tree next to the Kaditz church still bears new shoots every spring.

[12] Im Jahre 1856 wurde in Flora oder allgemeine botanische Zeitung der Umfang am Stammfuß mit 18 Ellen angegeben.

[14] The 1844 edition of Das Vaterland der Sachsen (Fatherland of the Saxons) claimed that the girth was 39 ½ feet.

During a fire in east Kaditz in 1802 the parsonage too was damaged, whilst the lime tree was once again barely touched.

A lithograph from approximately 1802 by the artist Gustav Taubert shows the burned out parsonage with the lime tree and church in the background.

[17] Every year on the day of Saint John the Baptist a traditional evensong is held with the church's faithful and after that a collective singing of folk songs takes place.

[18] Reports go back to 1830: "So people went to the church, in front of which the old, honourable lime tree, which surely is one of the biggest in Germany (perimeter of 18 cubits), was draped with wreaths.

"[19] During the 2010 Football World Cup the first match with German participation was broadcast in a public viewing event under the lime tree.

During his final stay in Dresden in August 1813 or already in 1810 he is said to have visited the Kaditz Lime Tree and to have been very impressed by its superb figure and its high age.

In Saxony's church gallery in 1836 it is written: "According to the elder, who retell from their fathers, the trunk was used as a pillory during the usual repentance.

The iron collars which were installed for this purpose still remain, but the two half-circles have moved 2 cubits apart from each other due to the enlargement of the tree."