Arbre de la Liberté (Waremme)

This lime was planted to mark the anniversary of a republic that Belgium has not belonged to for two hundred years. On 22 September 1797, when Waremme and the rest of what is now Belgium were under French rule, it went into the ground as an arbre de la liberté, a liberty tree, on the anniversary of the founding of the French Republic. The regime it was planted for did not last. The tree did, and it is now about 230 years old. It stands on the paved plaza in front of the Maison Lejeune-d'Anglure, a neoclassical house built around 1790, which makes the house the elder of the two by roughly seven years. The house has been classified heritage since 25 August 1987, though that protection is the building's and does not necessarily extend to the tree standing in front of it. The position is worth knowing before you go. The tree is out on the street frontage rather than inside the private grounds, so you can walk right up to it from Avenue Edmond Leburton without asking anybody's permission. Both sources call it simply a tilleul, a lime, and neither says which of the Tilia species it is. Nobody has taped its girth either. If you know, tell us.