The Oak of Laukiai

In March 2026 this oak became the first Lithuanian tree ever to win European Tree of the Year, announced in the European Parliament in Brussels. It beat Slovakia's wild apple and Poland's Crooked Tree with 6,153 points. Two years earlier, almost nobody outside the village of Rukai knew it was there. The Lithuanian Arboricultural Center puts its age at about 350 to 400 years, and the national broadcaster LRT says it was planted more than 350 years ago by Pranciškus and Barbora Laukiai. Their family has lived beside it for six generations since, and by local tradition each generation came to sit against the trunk in silence. It is now 5.1 metres round and about 27 metres tall. In 2025 the village took it on. Residents cleared the ground, laid paths, fenced the trunk and built a car park, and the homestead's owner opened the grounds to visitors. They also planted more than 40 young oaks beside it and called the grove Rasos parkas, Dawn's Park, so the next few centuries have something to work with. That same year it was named Lithuania's Tree of the Year, from 23 nominees. A change to the contest's voting formula, favouring smaller countries, is credited with making the first Lithuanian win possible. It stands on private family land opened to the public, with no ticket or appointment. It is about 18 km from Plunge, a separate stop by car rather than part of a walk.