The Red Horse Chestnut by the Tower

This red-flowered chestnut stands between the Onze Lieve Vrouwetoren, Amersfoort's freestanding medieval tower, and the old Varkensmarkt square, which makes it one of the more photographed backdrops in the city without anyone particularly meaning to photograph the tree itself. Aesculus x carnea is a hybrid between the familiar white-flowered horse chestnut and a smaller red-flowered American species, and the cross keeps the size of the European parent while borrowing the American parent's pink to red flower colour, which is what sets it apart from the plain horse chestnut on the station square nearby. The register bands its planting to the 1880s, putting it well past its first century, growing in the shadow of a tower that has stood since the fifteenth century and makes even a tree this old look young by comparison. Free, public street, no gate. May is the month for the pink candles, timed a week or two alongside the white-flowered horse chestnut by the station, so a short walk between the two shows both colours at once.