Estonians carried this oak in their wallets: it was printed on the back of the old 10 kroon banknote. It is the country's thickest tree, 8.31 metres round at chest height, and a 1998 ring study put its first year at 1326, which makes 2026 its seven hundredth summer. One tourism source says 800 years; the ring count is the better evidence. The name comes from folklore. Tamme-Lauri is Lauri of the oak, a fire spirit believed to live inside it, which is an apt tenant for a tree that lightning has struck again and again. Those strikes cut its height to about 17 metres and hollowed the trunk so thoroughly that seven people are said to fit standing inside. Another legend claims a Swedish king's carriage lost an axle here, and the axle took root. In 1970 the hollow was filled with eight tonnes of reinforced concrete. That sounds like a burial and was a rescue: the oak kept growing around its new core, and it is still growing half a century later. It has now outlived the money that made its face familiar: Estonia swapped the kroon for the euro in 2011. It stands in a clearing off the Urvaste to Kanepi road, signposted, free and open all year, a short walk from roadside parking.
Tamme-Lauri, Urvaste kula, Antsla vald, Voru maakond, Estonia; signed off the Urvaste-Kanepi highway You can recognise it by the trunk, 8.31 metres round and hollowed by lightning, under a crown cut down to about 17 metres. It stands in a signposted clearing off the Urvaste to Kanepi road.
Free, open year-round, no gate or ticket. Stands in a clearing beside a road, signposted from the Urvaste-Kanepi highway; a public tourist site, not private land.
Rural southeastern Estonia, no public transport to the site itself. Nearest towns are Antsla and Urvaste; a car is the practical way to reach it, with the tree a short walk from roadside parking.