The Oak of the Brauteich

This oak is protected less for its size than for the way it looks beside a pond. It stands on open land west of Langebrück, beside the Brauteich, a pond fed by a stream called the Braugraben, and it is the picture the two make together that the city's documentation singles out: the tree's form, and its interplay with the water. It has been on the books since 1958, when the district council of Dresden registered two natural monuments at Langebrück, this oak and a spring pond, the Quellteich. The figures are respectable rather than record-breaking. The city gives a height of about 22 metres, a crown about 20 metres across and a trunk 4.70 metres round, less massive than the Albert oak at Kauscha. And the form that earned it protection has had a hard time since: rot and a lightning strike have broken out part of the crown. Nobody has recorded its age, and the history of the tree is described as largely unknown. If you know when it was planted, or own an old photograph that shows it, tell us. In 2008 the city put it on a walking and cycling route past five natural monuments in Dresden's north, together with the giant oak in the Sauerbusch; they are kilometres apart, so it is a ride rather than a stroll. The pin is approximate, and the last dated photographs we know of are from 2017 and 2018. If you go, tell us how it is doing.