The Apostoł Oak

This oak keeps the name of the apostle whose parish it has stood beside for two centuries: Piotr, Peter, patron of Miedzyzdroje's church, in front of whose rectory the tree grows on Lipowa Street. It and its neighbour Barnim, a short walk away, are what is left of a nineteenth century avenue of oaks that once lined the approach to the church itself. At 370 centimetres round and nineteen metres tall, it is a genuinely large sessile oak. Poland's oldest documented specimen of the species, in Turawa, is dated to 370 years by written record, and the widest anywhere in the country reaches just over 600 centimetres, in the Skierniewice forest district. This one sits well inside both marks. Miedzyzdroje registered it as a natural monument in 2004, at an estimated 180 to 200 years old, putting it past two centuries by now. It stands free on a public street beside the rectory, one of five protected oaks within a few hundred metres of each other in this corner of Miedzyzdroje, along with Barnim, Bolko, Storrada and the older Regalinda a short walk away on Kolejowa.