The Piotr Wlast Oak

This is the one in the group that is not falling apart. Its three companions on Wielka Wyspa are variously hollow, lightning-struck and clamped together; this oak was recorded in good health at the last survey, with a large, well-formed crown and no bracing, standing 25 metres tall on 510 centimetres of girth. It has been a protected natural monument since 16 February 1953, decision 3/53, the same morning's work as two of the others. The name is a dedication rather than a date. Piotr Wlostowic, Piotr Wlast, was a twelfth-century Silesian magnate and founder of monasteries whose reputation is tied to this region, and nobody is claiming the tree goes back to him: no independent age estimate for this oak has been found at all, and Poland's national register carries no age field to consult. So it ships here with its girth, its height and its designation date, and without a number for its years. It stands on public ground on ul. Wroblewskiego, a few minutes from the entrance to Wroclaw's zoo, which opened in 1865 and is the oldest in Poland. Free, open, and the healthiest tree of this walk.