Nobody can say for certain which revolution this tree commemorates, only that it commemorates one. Standing 21 metres tall with a trunk 4.95 metres around, this copper beech dominates the small square between a rectory and the Sint-Willibrorduskerk in Berchem, and its size and position both point to it having been planted as a vrijheidsboom, a liberty tree, the European tradition of marking a political upheaval by putting a tree in the ground rather than raising a statue. The candidates are 1789, the year the Brabant Revolution briefly threw off Austrian rule, or 1830, the year Belgium itself declared independence, and heritage assessors who protected the tree as a monument in 1949 could not settle on which. It most likely began life inside the rectory's enclosed garden, sheltered there long enough to build the girth and canopy spread, some 32 metres across, that it shows today, before the garden wall came down and left it standing in the open square people see now. Whichever revolution it marks, it has now outlived both the political order it may have celebrated and the one that replaced it.
From people who stood here
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Getting there
Sint-Willibrorduskerk, Heilig Hartstraat, Berchem, Antwerp
You can recognise it by its huge trunk, nearly five metres round, and wide canopy spreading 32 metres. It stands in the small square between the rectory and Sint-Willibrorduskerk.
Tram to Berchem, short walk
Fresh leavesAutumn colour
April and May, when its new leaves are brightest copper-red
The line is our estimate of how much there is to see, not a measurement. Typical for this species where this tree stands; exact weeks shift with the year.
Sources
Where the facts on this page come from. The story was written with AI from these sources, and readers who know the tree correct it.
