The Daukantas Memorial Oak

roughly 45-50 yearsPedunculate Oak

Pedunculate OakNobody has published a photograph of this tree under a licence we can use. Send us yours and it goes on this page.

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Which one is it? The oak in the Daukantas courtyard itself. Some accounts place replacement saplings from the same planting next door in the Sirvydas courtyard, so the two get confused; this pin is the tree the city protects under this name.

The tree commemorates a walk. Simonas Daukantas, the 19th-century historian, came to Vilnius University on foot from Žemaitija, and the oak that carries his name in the courtyard named after him was grown from an acorn brought back from that same corner of the country. It is not an old tree, and it is not here for that. Nobody has published a planting date. Lithuanian Wikipedia says it went in for the university's 400th anniversary, and since the university was founded in 1579 that points at 1979 and an age of about forty-seven. The year is arithmetic on the anniversary, not something any source states. The planting did not go smoothly either. Two earlier saplings failed and were replaced, and some of those survivors are now said to stand next door in the Sirvydas Courtyard, which is why accounts of which oak is which do not entirely line up. The tree Vilnius protects under this name, listed as a heritage object since 29 May 1996, is the one at this pin. Daukantas walked from Žemaitija to study here, which in the 1810s was a serious undertaking rather than a gesture. The tree is the university's way of keeping the walk in the ground. If you know which oak is which, or when this one actually went in, tell us.

Been here? Worth the visit?

The button above opens directions in your maps app. Short walk (5-10 min) from Cathedral Square

Species: Pedunculate Oak (Quercus robur)
Age estimate: roughly 45-50 years
Location: S. Daukantas Courtyard, Vilnius University central buildings, Old Town (Old Town / Vilnius University)
Access: Free, inside a Vilnius University courtyard open to the public during the day
Getting there: Short walk (5-10 min) from Cathedral Square

Trees nearby

The Ash of Mickiewicz's Courtyard · 40 m away The Linden of Daukša Courtyard · 70 m away The Oldest Oak of Vilniusover 400 years · 520 m away

Curious what else is standing in Vilnius? See all 10 remarkable ancient trees in Vilnius or find out what the oldest tree in Vilnius is. It is a Pedunculate Oak; see every pedunculate oak on the site.

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This page was researched from a distance. If you know this tree, you know things we do not: the species, the age, the size, whether the photo shows the right tree, or that it is gone. Every field on this page can be corrected.

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