The Corkscrew Oak on the Rennweg

Most oaks spread sideways. This one corkscrews upward. In front of the Stadtcafé on the Rennweg grows Quercus robur 'Fastigiata Tortuosa', a cultivated form of the pedunculate oak with a pointed, pyramid-shaped crown and branches that snake as they climb. The city's tree register, as cited in Wikipedia's list of Innsbruck's natural monuments, puts it at more than 20 metres tall and more than three metres round. It is a curiosity rather than an ancient, and it was protected as a natural monument in 1984 for what it looks like, which is reason enough. The Hofgarten, the old court garden, is next door, so the walk from one to the other takes a minute. It is also the last protected tree on its plot. Rennweg 2 once held three. A black pine lost its protection in 2013 and collapsed in January 2021. A copper beech at the Landestheater, on the same plot, was felled in September 2025. The corkscrew oak is the one still standing. Nobody has recorded when it was planted, and the register gives no age. If you know, tell us. Our pin is the register's point, good to a few tens of metres, which matters less here than usual: no other tree on the Rennweg grows in this shape. It stands in public street space and costs nothing to see.