St. Wolfgang's Oak (Wolfgangseiche)
GermanyThalmassingNeueglofsheim
Legend says St. Wolfgang preached from this oak's great sideways limb, and for more than a century that limb has needed help to stay up. Over ten metres long, it rests on three props, already in place in a photograph from 1905. The tree has survived more than its share. It burned in 1878 and again in 1909, the second time on St. Wolfgang's own day. Lightning has struck it repeatedly. The trunk is hollow, and an oval opening marks where an ancient limb broke away. In 1972 the district of Regensburg and the municipality of Thalmassing restored it. It is one of the largest oaks in Bavaria: 9.80 metres round at chest height in January 2025, on a trunk so buttressed with knobs and root flare that every figure depends on where the tape goes. In 1905 it measured 8 metres at one metre up. It stands about 18 to 20 metres tall. Nobody agrees on its age. Published estimates run from about 500 to around 800 years, and mentions range from 400 to 1,300; the legend's 1,250 years is a story, not a measurement. In June 2025 it was named Nationalerbe-Baum number 48, a national heritage tree, on top of its standing as a Bavarian natural monument. It stands on a meadow beside a forest path, about 300 metres east of Schloss Haus and fifteen kilometres from Regensburg, free and open at any hour.
Winter shapeIn fruit
winter, when the bare crown shows the propped limb in full
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.
Forest path about 300 m east of Schloss Haus, Neueglofsheim, 93107 ThalmassingYou can recognise it by the huge horizontal limb resting on three props and the buttressed trunk, 9.80 metres round. It stands on a meadow by the forest path about 300 metres east of Schloss Haus.
Free, open at any time. Stands on a meadow beside a field and forest path at the end of an access road with a car park; locally signposted as the landmark of Thalmassing.
About 15 km from Regensburg, so a trip rather than a walk. RVV bus line 20 from Regensburg Hbf to Neueglofsheim reportedly runs on weekdays only (Moovit; not checked against a current timetable, check RVV/VGN). Then about 300 m on foot east of Schloss Haus. By car there is a car park at the end of the access road.
Sources
Where the facts on this page come from.