The Linden of Vrijthof

Vrijthof takes its name from the churchyard it once was, the free forecourt of the Basilica of Saint Servaas that doubled as a burial ground through the Middle Ages, before it became the wide public square that now hosts Maastricht's Christmas market and biggest outdoor terraces. Archaeological digs beneath the paving have turned up Roman infrastructure and early medieval graves, so the square's actual history runs back roughly two thousand years even though almost nothing visible on it does. This common lime, dated by the register to around 1880 to 1890, is one of the square's more recent arrivals by that measure, standing beside what was once the rijkswacht building at the square's edge. Common lime is itself a hybrid, a natural cross between the small-leaved and large-leaved lime that was the default civic tree across Dutch and Belgian cities for centuries. It grows in the open square, free, a two minute walk from a second commemorative linden on the neighbouring Keizer Karelplein, both sharing the same historic church complex without either predating it by more than a fraction.