This lime was planted on Keizer Karelplein to mark the birth of Princess Juliana in April 1909, the future queen who would go on to reign over the Netherlands for 32 years, and the tree still carries a small royal fence around its base. What that fence does not carry is any mention of Juliana at all: the register notes, with some evident amusement, that the ironwork skips the commemoration entirely and instead repeats a single instruction six times over, no bicycles. The tree stands at Keizer Karelplein, one of three squares that ring the Basilica of Saint Servaas, Maastricht's oldest surviving church and the burial place of the city's first bishop. Juliana herself never had any particular connection to Maastricht beyond the timing of her birth, which was enough in 1909 for a municipality to plant a tree and forget, or simply never get around to, actually saying why. It stands in the open square today, free to see, a two minute walk from a second monumental linden on the neighbouring Vrijthof.
In bloom
June to July, when it flowers
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.
Keizer Karelplein 15, MaastrichtYou can recognise it by the small iron fence ringing its base, its ironwork repeating a single no-bicycles warning six times. It stands on Keizer Karelplein, a two minute walk from the Vrijthof's linden.
Free, public square, open at any time
Centrum, central Maastricht; about a 10 minute walk from Maastricht station
Sources
Where the facts on this page come from.
- In the official register: Landelijk Register Monumentale Bomen (Bomenstichting), no. 1679958
- Landelijk Register Monumentale Bomen v2024 (LRMB), Bomenstichting (nr 1679958)
- nl.wikipedia.org
- services-eu1.arcgis.com