The Bażyński Oak is an

oak An oak is a hardwood tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' of the beech family. They have spirally arranged leaves, often with lobed edges, and a nut called an acorn, borne within a cup. The genus is widely distributed in the Northern Hemisp ...

tree and

natural monument A natural monument is a natural or cultural feature of outstanding or unique value because of its inherent rarity, representative of aesthetic qualities, or cultural significance. They can be natural geological and geographical features such as w ...

in Poland. It is one of the oldest trees in

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

, whose age is estimated at around 716 years according to dendrochronological research.Cezary Pacyniak. ''Najstarsze drzewa w Polsce''. PTTK Kraj. 1992. It grows in the town of

Kadyny Kadyny is a village of Gmina Tolkmicko, within Elbląg County, Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, in northern Poland. Geography It is situated in the Elbląg Upland Landscape Park, a protected area on a terminal moraine stretching along the Vistula ...

on the

Vistula Lagoon The Vistula Lagoon is a brackish water lagoon on the Baltic Sea roughly 56 miles (90 km) long, 6 to 15 miles (10 to 19 km) wide, and up to 17 feet (5 m) deep, separated from the Gdańsk Bay by the Vistula Spit. Geography The lag ...

.Krzysztof Borkowski, Robert Tomusiak, Paweł Zarzyński. ''Drzewa Polski''. PWN. 2016. The circumference of the tree is 10.03 metres and its height is 21 metres. The crown spread is 14 by 21.5 m. The Bażyński Oak's circumference near the ground is exceptional – around 15 metres.Robert Tomusiak, Paweł Zarzyński. ''90 drzew. Okazy niezwykłe''. Centrum Informacyjne Lasów Państwowych. 2014. It is named after Jan Bażyński (also known as Johannes von Baysen), a former owner of

and one of the founders of the

Prussian Confederation The Prussian Confederation (, ) was an organization formed on 21 February 1440 at Marienwerder (present-day Kwidzyn) by a group of 53 nobles and clergy and 19 cities in Prussia, to oppose the arbitrariness of the Teutonic Knights. It was based o ...

. In 1880 the oak's trunk was 8.64 metres thick and the radius of its crown was 13 metres; at the time its large hollow was fitted with a wooden door and a guard was posted to protect it. One of the owners of

, Artur Brikner, claimed that eleven soldiers could stay in the hollow trunk. What is more, in the first years of the 20th century, the trunk was part of the brew (

beer Beer is an alcoholic beverage produced by the brewing and fermentation of starches from cereal grain—most commonly malted barley, although wheat, maize (corn), rice, and oats are also used. The grain is mashed to convert starch in the ...

) pub and the

currency exchange A bureau de change (plural bureaux de change, both ; British English) or currency exchange (American English) is a business where people can exchange one currency for another. Nomenclature Originally French, the term () is widely used thro ...

. The area around the Bażyński Oak also includes six other old oaks which are also on the registry of Polish national monuments.Mazury Trave
Nature Monuments
, last accessed August 22, 2010

See also

References

Further reading