The Bildeiche at Höhenhof
GermanyRegensburgHöhenhof, Obertraubling
A Madonna stands inside this oak. Long ago a thick limb broke away about a metre above the ground, the wound left a hollow in the trunk, and a figure of the Mother of God was set into it. That is the name: a Bildeiche is an oak with a picture in it. A grille now closes the opening, and there is no other in the trunk. It is 7.20 metres round, measured in September 2021 by Rainer Lippert, who records Germany's monumental oaks, and 19 metres tall, with a crown built from several heavy limbs going their own way. Lippert puts it at roughly 350 years. That is his estimate, not a ring count, so read it as somewhere between 300 and 400. The tree register baumkunde.de carries the same figures, partly from the same observer, which makes it less of a second opinion than it looks. Bavaria made it a natural monument on 15 January 1938. The ground around it was military land from 1861 to 2011, a training area from 1958, and Lippert writes that the oak is missing from the literature: a friend of his came across it by chance. Today the meadow belongs to the 494 hectare DBU Naturerbe Frauenholz, the road to Obertraubling runs past, and the tree was last reported in good health in August 2024. It stands about 8 km south of Regensburg, near Obertraubling. We have not checked the buses, so look up the route before you set out.
In fruit
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.
Meadow about 600 m south-west of the hamlet Höhenhof, beside the road to Obertraubling, DBU Naturerbe Frauenholz, 93083 ObertraublingYou can recognise it by the grilled hollow about a metre up the trunk, with a Madonna figure inside. It stands on its own in a meadow beside the road to Obertraubling, about 600 m south-west of Höhenhof.
Stands in a meadow on the DBU Naturerbe Frauenholz (former military training area, managed by Bundesforstbetrieb Hohenfels); baumkunde.de lists access as publicly accessible and the road to Obertraubling passes the tree. The trunk opening with the Madonna figure is behind a grille.
About 8 km south of Regensburg centre, near Obertraubling and Oberhinkofen. We have not checked bus connections or travel time; look up the route before you go.
Sources
Where the facts on this page come from.