The Hunrodeiche or, more rarely, the Hunrodseiche, in the

Harz Mountains The Harz (), also called the Harz Mountains, is a Mittelgebirge, highland area in northern Germany. It has the highest elevations for that region, and its rugged terrain extends across parts of Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Thuringia. The nam ...

of central Germany is an

oak tree An oak is a hardwood tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' of the Fagaceae, 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 Northe ...

over 1,000 years old near

Hainfeld Hainfeld is a municipality in the district of Lilienfeld in the Austrian state of Lower Austria. Geography Hainfeld is situated on the Gölsen River in the Southeast Lower Austria. It's the biggest city in Gölsen Valley (''Gölsental''). The ...

in the county of

Mansfeld-Südharz Mansfeld-Südharz is a district in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Its area is . History The district was established by merging the former districts of Sangerhausen and Mansfelder Land as part of the reform of 2007. In the German parliament, the Bu ...

in the state of

Saxony-Anhalt Saxony-Anhalt ( ; ) is a States of Germany, state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony, Thuringia and Lower Saxony. It covers an area of and has a population of 2.17 million inhabitants, making it the List of German states ...

Location

The Hunrodeiche is located in the

Lower Harz The Harz (), also called the Harz Mountains, is a Mittelgebirge, highland area in northern Germany. It has the highest elevations for that region, and its rugged terrain extends across parts of Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Thuringia. The nam ...

in the

Harz/Saxony-Anhalt Nature Park The Harz/Saxony-Anhalt Nature Park () is situated n the districts of Harz and Mansfeld-Südharz in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt. The nature park which lies in the Harz Mountains was founded in 2003 and has an area of around 1,660 km2. It ...

and within the South Harz Karst Landscape Biosphere Reserve. It is due east of

, a village in the municipality of Stolberg, on the wooded edge of the ''Hainfeld'' plateau at a height of about on the ''Silberbachstraße'' (from Hainfeld to Stolberg). The stream of the same name, a tributary of the

Thyra Thyra or Thyri (Old Norse: Þyri or Þyre) was the wife of King Gorm the Old of Denmark, and one of the first queens of Denmark believed by scholars to be historical rather than legendary. She is presented in medieval sources as a wise and power ...

, rises a few hundred metres southeast of the oak.

Description

The Hunrodeiche has been declared a

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 ...

. It takes about six people to reach around its gnarled trunk. Until about 2000 the tree still had many green shoots; today only the trunk and several, in some cases, thick, but mostly cut branches indicate the long life of the oak with just the occasional leafy shoot.

Hiking

The Hunrodeiche is no. 216 in the system of checkpoints of the

Harzer Wandernadel The Harzer Wandernadel is a system of hiking awards in the Harz mountains in central Germany. Hikers (or mountain bikers) can earn awards at different levels of challenge by walking to the various checkpoints in the network and stamping their ...

hiking network. The checkpoint boxm, which used to be fixed to the tree, is now on a post next to it.

References

Artike
''Wandertour Harzgarten Stolberg''
mit Infos zur auf ausflugsziele-harz.de
Harzer Wandernadel
Stempelstelle 216 – ''Hunrodeiche''
auf harzer-wandernadel.de {{Coord, 51, 34, 18.9, N, 10, 56, 12.5, E, type:landmark_region:DE-ST, display=title Individual oak trees Natural monuments in Saxony-Anhalt Harz Mansfeld-Südharz Individual trees in Germany