The Great Oak of Pfaueninsel

Pfaueninsel's oaks were already old when the island became a royal garden. In 1793, Friedrich Wilhelm II ordered the landscaping of this Havel island, and his court gardener kept the oak stand standing rather than clear it, because the trees were already a century old by then. This one, on the meadow near the Schloss, may be one of those originals: at 565 to 567 centimetres around, it was until recently the largest and most striking oak on the island, its short trunk splitting low into one main stem and five curving limbs. Nobody has measured its age directly, so a range is the honest answer here: somewhere between 200 and 400 years, bracketed from the island's own history rather than a bore sample. What is on record is a more recent event. Surveyors who examined the tree later criticized a crown reduction carried out on it, describing the pruning as unnecessary and unprofessional work on a specimen that deserved better handling. The island itself has stayed almost untouched since. Pfaueninsel is reachable only by a short chain ferry, has no cars, and keeps the eighteenth century pleasure-garden layout Friedrich Wilhelm II laid out around trees like this one. Peacocks still roam it, the reason for the name. Walk the meadow near the Schloss and this is the oak the Prussian court gardener chose to save.