Two yews flank the gate into Belgrade Cathedral's courtyard, one on each side of the entrance on Kneza Sime Markovića street, and between them they demonstrate something most visitors never think to check: yews come in two sexes, and these are one of each. The slightly taller tree, at 13.3 metres, is male; the shorter one, 11.8 metres, is female, and unlike most paired ornamental plantings nobody chose them to match on purpose, they were simply planted together around the turn of the 20th century and grew into their roles. Both were formally protected as natural monuments in 1979, valued specifically for being unusually large, healthy specimens of a species rarely found this size inside a dense city center rather than out in a forest or a rural churchyard. The Cathedral itself, built between 1837 and 1840, is one of Belgrade's most visited churches, and its courtyard sees a steady stream of visitors who walk directly between the two trees without necessarily noticing that the one on their left and the one on their right are, in the plainest botanical sense, a couple.
From people who stood here
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Getting there
Courtyard entrance, Saborna crkva (Belgrade Cathedral), Kneza Sime Markovića, Belgrade
You can recognise them as a pair flanking the courtyard gate, one male at 13.3 metres, the other female at 11.8 metres. They stand either side of the entrance to Belgrade Cathedral.
Free, public church courtyard, viewable during normal visiting hours
Stari Grad, Kneza Sime Markovića; a 5 minute walk from Knez Mihailova street
In fruit
red arils on female trees, the only part that is not poisonous
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.
