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Grabeiche

Schmölln, Italy

Grabeiche

The Grave Oak (in German: Grabeiche, also known as the burial oak, Thümmel oak or "thousand-year-old oak") is a striking old specimen of the pedunculate oak (Quercus robur) in Nöbdenitz in Thuringia. There is a grave site in the tree's hollow trunk. According to the Guinness Book of Records, it is t

he oldest pedunculate oak in Europe. However, the age of around 2000 years stated in the Guinness Book is contested. According to the latest literature, the oak is estimated to be between 700 and 800 years old. The oak is located in the centre of Nöbdenitz, about six kilometres southwest of Schmölln, in the Thuringian district of Altenburger Land. In its root zone, directly below the hollow trunk, there is a brick-built crypt containing the body of the manor owner Hans Wilhelm von Thümmel, who died in 1824. He was a writer, chronicler and cartographer of the Duchy of Altenburg and had acquired this unusual burial place from the parish before his death.

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