The Chapel Limes of St. Aegidius, Grafing
Two large-leaved limes stand together at the chapel of St. Aegidius in Grafing, and the larger of them has a trunk 7.90 metres round. Its partner measures 5.45 metres. Both figures come from a measurement taken in 2015 and recorded in Bavaria's list of notable trees, which gives each tree an age of about 260 years. That age is an estimate, and the list does not say how it was reached, so read it as somewhere between 200 and 320 years. Near the middle of that band, the pair went into the ground in the middle of the eighteenth century, while Bavaria was still ruled by its electors, and they have grown side by side at the same chapel ever since. Landkreis Ebersberg protects them together as natural monument 81: one listing for two trees, which is also how they are best seen, from one spot. Which of the two is the bigger, the left or the right as you face the chapel, is not recorded in anything we have read. A trunk of nearly eight metres should settle it at a glance; if you go, tell us which side it stands on. The latest photographs we know of date from October 2020, so a word on how both look now would help too. Grafing is about 33 km east of Munich. The S4 or a regional train runs to Grafing Bahnhof, and the chapel on Am Stadion is roughly a kilometre on foot from there.
scented pale yellow flowers in June, early for a lime and loud with beesFruityellow-green to yellow
June, when both limes flower early for their kind and the chapel fills with scent and bees
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.
Aegidius chapel, Am Stadion, Grafing bei MuenchenYou can recognise them as the pair of large-leaved limes beside the Aegidius chapel, one trunk 7.90 metres round and the other 5.45. They stand at the chapel on Am Stadion in Grafing.
Free. Two limes at the Aegidius chapel on a public street (Am Stadion); the register notes them as Naturdenkmal ND 81 of Landkreis Ebersberg. Whether the chapel plot is fenced was not established.
About 33 km east of Munich: regional train or S4 from Munich to Grafing Bahnhof (roughly 35 to 40 minutes, timetable not checked), then about 1 km on foot (not measured).
Sources
Where the facts on this page come from.
