This maple grows sideways. Its trunk leans down almost to the ground before curving back up, a shape distinctive enough that Krasnystaw gave it a name, Klekace Drzewo, the kneeling tree, coined from a poet's words and printed on the plaque now standing beside it. Locals just call it the bent tree. It is not old by this site's usual standard, a boxelder maple of around 65 years, 182 centimetres round and 9 metres tall. What it has instead is a following. Nominated by the local Krasnystaw Ecological Movement Viridis, it won Poland's national Drzewo Roku contest in 2018 with 4,131 public votes, beating Krakow's Dab Henryka, the Ustrobniak Oak of Podkarpackie and a rival Dab Bartek from Wielkopolskie. It went on to the European Tree of the Year 2019 shortlist against twelve other national champions. The town has taken to it: it has appeared on a postal stamp in a small Krasnystaw series and is treated as one of the town's civic symbols. It grows right on the market square, the Rynek, beside the town hall and a fountain, which is as public a spot as a tree gets. What makes it worth a look is not its age but its shape, and a plaque telling you why it kneels.
Rynek (market square), Krasnystaw, Lubelskie Voivodeship, Poland You can recognise it by the trunk bent almost to the ground before curving back up, unlike any other tree here. It stands on Krasnystaw's market square (Rynek), beside the town hall and a fountain.
Free. Stands in the open on Krasnystaw's town market square (Rynek), beside the town hall and a fountain; a public square, no permission needed.
Central Krasnystaw, on the market square (Rynek).