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Photo: Yekaterina Borisova (CC BY-SA 4.0)
The Plane of Karlovo namesti
Photo: Yekaterina Borisova (CC BY-SA 4.0)See it at full size

The Plane of Karlovo namesti

Nove Mesto

Years old160-190
Girth7.14 m
SpeciesLondon Plane

Seasons1 of 4

Prague's most photographed memorial tree earned an unprintable nickname for the shape of one branch. The plane at Karlovo namesti sends a limb down toward the ground before it curls back upward, a silhouette locals have joked about for decades. Planted before the square was landscaped into a public park in 1876, the tree is Prague's most recognisable protected tree, with a trunk measured at nearly eight metres around in 2004 and a crown that spreads across the western half of the park. It has not had an easy two centuries. Restorers opened and cleaned a large cavity in its trunk in 1985, propped up the low branch responsible for its nickname, and in 2013 ringed the whole tree in a fence after years of visitors climbing on the very limb they came to look at. Prague declared it a protected memorial tree on 7 October 1998 for its growth, age and value as a specimen. Estimates for its exact age disagree, ranging from about 160 to 190 years depending on the source, which would put its planting somewhere between the early 1800s and the 1860s. Nobody has found a planting record to settle it.

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Getting there

Park na Karlove namesti, 128 00 Praha 2

In the park on the square, 7.14 metres round, with one limb that dips toward the ground before curling back up, which is what the nickname is about.

Free, public park (Park na Karlove namesti), open at all times

3 min walk from Karlovo namesti metro station (Line B)

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now JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec

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.

Sources

Where the facts on this page come from. The story was written with AI from these sources, and readers who know the tree correct it.

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The Plane of Karlovo namesti

For example: “Best seen from the north side around four, when the sun comes through.” Or: “There was a church on this square until 1755.”

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