The lime tree of Kaditz is a natural landmark situated in the churchyard of Emmaus Church in Kaditz, a district of Dresden in Saxony, Germany. The large-leaved lime tree (Tilia platyphyllos) is high and is estimated to be between 500 and 1,000 years old. The girth of the trunk is about . In 1818 the tree was badly damaged by a huge fire in the village, which caused the trunk to split in two. It developed an abnormal growth to compensate for the damage done by the fire. This lime tree has often been written about and depicted, especially in Germany, and has also been used as a case study in dendrology, the science of trees and wooded plants. With its large girth it was ranked among the biggest lime trees in Germany even in the 19th century. The Kaditz Lime is also said to have served as a kind of pillory in the Middle Ages. The German Tree Archive includes it in its list of the most significant trees in the nation (NBB – national bedeutsame Bäume), in which the most important criterion is the girth of the trunk measured at a height of 1 metre.
Location The lime tree is situated in the centre of the village of Kaditz, a district of Dresden, on the right bank of the Elbe, where it stands on a plateau with no danger of flooding, about north-west of the historic centre of Dresden. The Kaditz flood channel passes by the town to the south, constructed between 1918 and 1922 as part of flood prevention in Dresden on the site of an abandoned channel of the Elbe, which was eroding due to flooding at high water. The lime tree is situated at approximately above sea level and about 10 metres above the normal water level of the Elbe. The lime is situated next to the Protestant Emmaus Church, which is surrounded by a cemetery.
The lime tree is protected from storms by the vicarage and the church, which stand approximately 15 metres apart. The crown spans a large part of the churchyard. A memorial to the fallen soldiers of both World Wars is situated close to the tree. The ground around the lime tree is not sealed, but partly grassed over. A few metres away stands another lime tree, which, according to the parish register, was planted in 1622. The Elbe Cycle Route, which is over long, passes through Kaditz past the lime tree.
History
To 1818 Emmaus Church was first mentioned in 1273, under the name of St. Lawrence's Chapel, which was dedicated to Lawrence of Rome. It is said that the lime was planted next to the chapel at the time it was built. In 1430, the Hussites set St. Lawrence's Chapel on fire, but due to favourable wind conditions the tree only suffered minimal damage. In around 1500, the church was rebuilt and a new cemetery laid out, which is now the oldest in Kaditz. Until 1862 the cemetery was the only public burial ground in Kaditz.
In 1637, when the Thirty Years' War was raging in Saxony, the church was in flames again. Miraculously, the lime tree remained almost unscathed. The church remained a burnt-out ruin for years after the fire until restoration began in 1650. Remains of the Lawrence chapel form part of today's steeple. During the Thirty Years' War, Swedish troops camped under the lime tree. In 1686 the parsonage was built next to the church with the result that the lime tree was now situated between the two buildings.
Despite enlargement of the churchyard in 1737, the continual shortage of space meant that some of the graves had to be placed close to the lime tree. Thus they were within the rooted area of the tree, which is typically very extensive with lime trees. In 1839 Saxonia magazine stated that the lime tree "probably nourished itself from the surrounding corpses". The advancing age and the increasing girth of the lime tree meant that it became more and more well-known. The girth of 21 ells (11.9 metres) made it a remarkable feature. Hence, the Duke of Courland, who was the third son of Friedrich August II and the grandchild of August the Strong, had the lime tree geometrically recorded in around 1750.
19th century
That same year, a great fire occurred in Kaditz – this time mainly in the west of the town.Siegfried Reinhardt: Ein Baum der Superlative: Die Kaditzer Linde – ein imposantes Naturdenkmal. In: Dresdner Neueste Nachrichten. Dresdner Nachrichten, Dresden 2007-07-27, p. 16. The fire destroyed 19 farmhouses, 30 barns and the rectory, which was located a few metres from the lime tree. The fire leapt from the parsonage onto the big lime tree and destroyed one half of the trunk, which burned down to the core.Siegfried Reinhardt: Eine Tausendjährige erzählt. In: Verein Neue Nachbarschaft Kaditz e. V. (Hrsg.): Typisch Kaditz: Geschichte und Geschichten. 2002, p. 65. However, the lime tree prevented the fire from spreading from the parsonage onto the church and, despite significant damage, the lime tree survived. Because of the damage, a large cavity facing the rectory opened up in the trunk, which had been hollow, but fully closed up until then. Thus the lime tree decomposed slowly from the inside.Stefan Kühn, Bernd Ullrich, Uwe Kühn: Deutschlands alte Bäume. 2010, Chapter Tausendjährige Linde in Kaditz, p. 83. The cavity inside the trunk was so big that it was possible to set up tables and chairs inside. On many occasions, young people would gather there to play music. Over a period of decades the tree's roots developed further, forming secondary trunks to strengthen the remains of the main trunk and to increase the tree's stability. Because of this phenomenon, the lime tree was often the object of excursions for teachers and students in the field of dendrology, the science of trees and wooded plants. The tree's fame increased even more after the fire and the development of its abnormal growth. Many drawings and pictures of the lime tree have emerged, one of which was displayed at an art exhibition in Dresden, which contributed to its growing popularity. One could read about the tree's fate in journals and magazines, in which the authors spared no superlatives describing the age and fortune of the Kaditz lime tree.Siegfried Reinhardt: Ein Baum der Superlative: Die Kaditzer Linde – ein imposantes Naturdenkmal. In: Dresdner Neueste Nachrichten. Dresdner Nachrichten, Dresden 27. Juli 2007, S. 16.
In 1823, Johann Gottfried Ziller, who was the cantor at that time, noted: "It is remarkable that nature gradually re-covered the inner walls in the hollow of the trunk with new bark and brought new life to the trunk." Seven years later, Superintendent Karl Christian Seltenreich, who was pastor of the Church of the Holy Cross in Dresden, gave the order to support the lowest and heaviest branch with pillars and timber in order to prevent it from breaking off. The construction was shaped like a gate and plastered like brickwork in order to give it the appearance of a stone pillar construction. Sachsens Kirchen-Galerie aus dem Jahre 1836 enthält Angaben zur Größe des Stammes und einen Vergleich zu anderen Linden: „Auf dem Kirchhofe zu Kaditz befindet sich eine Linde, die ihres Umfanges und hohen Alters wegen bemerkenswerth ist. Die bekannte große Linde bei Augustusburg mißt 18 ½ Ellen im Umfange ihres Stammes. Eine Linde in Schwaben wird von 18 Ellen Stammesumfang und als die älteste und stärkste in Deutschland aufgeführt. Diese, auf dem Kirchhofe zu Kaditz, mißt am Fuße 19 ¾ Ellen. Der Greisenbaum ist hohl, und der größte Durchmesser seiner Höhlung beträgt 5 Ellen." Ein Beitrag in Saxonia, einer Zeitschrift aus dem Jahre 1839 mit der Überschrift Die große Linde auf dem Kirchhofe zu Kaditz bei Dresden vergleicht die Kaditzer ebenfalls mit der Augustusburger Linde: „Auf dasigem Kirchhofe, dem Hauptthore gegenüber zwischen der Kirche und dem Pfarrhause, befindet sich jene durch Größe und Alter ausgezeichnete Linde. Ihr Stamm übertrifft die Augustusburger Linde von 18 ½ Elle Umfang, denn die Kaditzer faßt in der stärksten Breite 21 Ellen." In der Zeitschrift Das Vaterland der Sachsen aus dem Jahre 1844 wird ausführlich über die Kaditzer Linde berichtet:
The journal Saxony's Church Gallery (Sachsens Kirchen-Galerie) from 1836 contains references to the size of the trunk and compares it to other lime trees: "There is a lime tree in the churchyard of Kaditz, which is remarkable due to its circumference and great age. The circumference of the trunk of the well-known lime tree near Augustusburg measures 18 1/2 ells. A lime tree in Swabia with a girth of 18 ells is listed as the oldest and strongest in Germany. The one in the churchyard of Kaditz measures 19 3/4 ells at the root. The ancient tree is hollow, and the diameter of its cavity totals 5 ells." An article in Saxonia, a journal from 1839, bearing the title "The Great Lime Tree in the Churchyard of Kaditz Near Dresden" ("Die große Linde auf dem Kirchhofe zu Kaditz bei Dresden"), also compares the Kaditz lime to that at Augustusburg: "In that churchyard, opposite the main gate and between the church and the parsonage, stands the lime tree, which is conspicuous for its size and age. The Kaditz lime tree, measuring 21 ells at its maximum girth, surpasses the Augustusburg lime tree with a girth of 18 1/2 ells." The journal The Fatherland of the Saxons [Das Vaterland der Sachsen] of 1844 reports at length about the Kaditz lime tree:
It is neither the tree's height, nor the spread of its branches that makes it peculiar. Without doubt, it is its girth and its great age which lets the tree compete with the most famous of the oldest trees of Saxony, and even top them. For while the ancient lime tree of Augustusburg has a circumference of slightly more than 18 ells, and while the one in Annaberg, which is especially remarkable because it must once have been planted upside down in its former location, do not reach this girth, the periphery of the trunk of the Kaditz lime tree, with a height of 8 to 10 ells, measures not less than 39 ½ feet.
and
According to a not improbable report given by older residents, the old trunk of the lime tree served as a pillory for those who had forfeited church penance; and indeed some iron rings and clips, almost completely overgrown by the bark, can still be found in the trunk. It appears that in the more recent centuries it was frequently necessary to saw off the far too high and strong branches, partly because they were disadvantageous for the roof of the church and the rectory, and partly because they had threatened to tear apart and destroy the trunk, which became increasingly hollow. This created over time the big, chimney-like holes in the trunk, through which many a jocund fellow crawled in order to present his head merrily to his playmates as a young fruit of the old tree. – Das Vaterland der Sachsen. 1844.
Recent history The municipality of Kaditz lost its autonomy and became part of Dresden in 1903. The village lime tree became a city idyll, as it was extolled on postcards. The daily newspaper Saxon News wrote in 1909: "The colossal Kaditz lime tree that stands in the cemetery of the village of Kaditzis one of the oldest trees in Saxony, perhaps even one of the oldest trees in Germany. The girth measured 12.5 metres and the diameter 4 metres." On 7 June 1925, a war memorial that stands about 22 yards away from the lime tree was inaugurated in a ceremonial act. It shows a large, carved stone eagle that faces the tree. In 1945 in the early days after the World War II, an inhabitant of Kaditz was said to have hidden in the hollow trunk by night in order to escape the raids in the houses.