Hollow inside and completely vital. That is the local paper's verdict on this linden, and the two halves of it are both true: the trunk is empty, the tree is in no trouble, and for the last twenty years its crown has been held together with cables so that it stays that way. The city has no intention of felling it. It stands at the Molkenkur, the shoulder of the Königstuhl directly above Heidelberg Castle, where the funicular makes its stop and where people come for one of Heidelberg's best-known views. The linden has been a protected natural monument since October 1958, so it has spent the whole postwar life of the city on a register. Its age is given as roughly two hundred years by the newspaper that wrote it up, and nobody has done better than that. No ring count, no girth measurement, and the register does not even settle which linden it is, large-leaved or small-leaved. Treat two hundred as the middle of a wide band rather than a fact. One thing to know before you climb. Our pin comes from the register's map tile rather than a reading taken at the trunk, so it puts you in the right place at the Molkenkur and not on the exact spot. Look for the cables: a hollow veteran wearing steel is not hard to pick out.
In bloom
late June, when the Molkenkur linden flowers above the castle, scented and loud with bees
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.
Molkenkur, Heidelberg (below the Schlosshotel Molkenkur, on the Königstuhl slope above the castle)You can recognise it by its hollow trunk and cabled crown, standing at the viewpoint where the funicular stops above Heidelberg Castle. It stands at the Molkenkur, on the Konigstuhl slope.
Free, public viewpoint area at Molkenkur; no ticket needed to reach or stand by the tree.
Heidelberg funicular (Bergbahn) from Kornmarkt to the Molkenkur stop, a few minutes; also reachable on foot via the Klingentor path from the castle, roughly 15-20 minutes uphill.
Sources
Where the facts on this page come from.