The Bismarck Oak of the Waldpark Blasewitz
Approximate location.
The stone beside this oak has changed its mind about who it honours. The tree was planted in 1895 for Otto von Bismarck's 80th birthday, and the sandstone block next to it was dedicated to him too, with his portrait in a bronze medallion. The medallion went missing shortly after the Second World War. In 1998 the block was given a new bronze plaque, this time remembering Hofgärtner H. S. Neumann, 1829 to 1880, the court gardener who designed the Waldpark itself. So the oak has outlasted the man it was planted for and the monument that explained it. At about 130 years old it is no giant, and nobody has published its girth or height. What it offers is the park its stone now commemorates, and a small lesson in how a memorial gets rewritten when the century moves on. Be warned before you go: there is no information sign, and the Bismarck Oak stands as part of a group of trees. Our pin is approximate, close to the spot but not on the trunk, so you will have to pick the right oak yourself. The stone is the giveaway. Find the sandstone block with the Neumann plaque on the Lothringer Weg, west of the tennis courts, and the oak is the one beside it.
catkins hang before the leaves are fully outacorns drop, and a good mast year buries the ground in themAutumn colour
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.
Waldpark Blasewitz, Lothringer Weg, west of the tennis courts You can recognise it by the sandstone block beside it, bearing a bronze plaque to the park's designer H. S. Neumann. It stands in a group of trees on the Lothringer Weg, west of the tennis courts.
Free. In the Waldpark Blasewitz, a public park; open at all times.
Not verified. Blasewitz, in the Waldpark by the Waldparkrestaurant; check tram stops before quoting a stop.
Sources
Where the facts on this page come from.
