The Babisnau poplar () is a black poplar (Populus nigra) located near Babisnau, a district of the municipality of Kreischa in Saxony in Germany. It stands prominently on a plateau south of Dresden. It was planted in 1808 by Johann Gottlieb Becke, a landowner from Babisnau, as a border tree marking the boundary of his property. This tree has held the status of a natural monument since 1936. Over the years, it has endured significant crown damage due to strong storms in 1967 and 1996. The poplar currently stands at a height of 17.3 meters with a trunk circumference of 5.1 meters.
This tree is a popular excursion spot due to its panoramic views of the surrounding area, including the city of Dresden. During the German War in 1866, the poplar was used as a lookout point with a temporary observation scaffold. A permanent lookout scaffold was built next to the tree in 1885 and later renovated in 1922, 1963, and 1999. Since 1993, the Babisnau poplar has been vegetatively propagated on multiple occasions. According to local legend, the poplar's blossoming, which does not occur every year, is a sign of an impending end to a war. The Wendelauf, a popular race that circles the poplar, takes place twice a year.
Location The poplar stands on the unwooded 335-meter-high Zughübel, above sea level, with unobstructed views in all directions, especially to Dresden, about 110 meters above sea level, and to Saxon Switzerland. It is located about nine kilometers south of the Inner Old Town of Dresden and about 800 meters west of Babisnau, stands about 220 meters above the Elbe River, and is surrounded by agricultural fields. The poplar is located directly on the boundary between the districts of Babisnau, a district of Kreischa, and Golberode, a district of Bannewitz. In the immediate vicinity is a viewing platform and about ten meters away is the Bismarck oak, planted in 1890. On April 8, 2006, another black poplar was planted a few meters away, which grew from a cutting of the old poplar. The panorama from the poplar and the platform includes the wooded escarpment to the north above the broad Elbe valley widening, which borders the West Lusatian hill and mountain landscape to the south. This landscape can be traced from the Borsberg at 361 meters above sea level down to the Lößnitz Heights. To the east, the relief of the table mountains of the Elbe Sandstone Mountains is visible, and in the south, the mountain range featuring the Quohrener Kipse, the Hermsdorfer Berg, and the Wilisch frames the Kreischa basin.Karen Trinks: Naturschutz regional: Baum-Naturdenkmale in der Region oberes Elbtal/Osterzgebirge. Hrsg.: Staatliches Umweltfachamt Radebeul. Kapitel wrk 001 Babisnauer Pappel, pp. 102.
The Babisnau poplar is situated on a Cretaceous (Turonian) Pläner sandstone table, with its top elevation reaching around 320 meters above sea level.Sächsisches Landesamt für Umwelt und Geologie: Geologische Karte von der eiszeitlich bedeckten Gebiete von Sachsen, Blatt Nr. 2668 Dresden, Maßstab 1 : 50.000. This sandstone table is characterized by a slight dip, sloping gently northward towards Golberode, with slopes having inclinations of two to four degrees. At the Zughübel, there is a distinctive west and southwest-facing stratification step that rises approximately 40 meters high, marking the edge of the table where it meets the Zertal area of the Possendorf stream. On the top of the sandstones, there exists a shallow loess-loam cover, upon which shallow cover loess-parabrown soils have formed.Akademie der Wissenschaften der DDR (Hrsg.): Zwischen Tharandter Wald, Freital und dem Lockwitzgrund (= Werte unserer Heimat. Band 12, E 9). Akademie-Verlag, Berlin 1973, pp. 84–85. These geological conditions at the Zughübel have created an environment where the poplar can thrive. The poplar belongs to a genus that typically grows in moist lowland areas rather than on a ridge, making its presence at this location unique.
History In 1808, Johann Gottlieb Becke, a landowner in Babisnau, undertook the planting of the black poplar on the highest point of the Zughübel plateau.Einigen Quellen zufolge lautete sein Nachname Beck, vgl. Hinweisschild am Baum. This act was carried out to mark the boundary between his land and the neighboring Golberoder Flur.Maximilian Eckardt: Die Babisnauer Pappel. In: „Bergblumen“. Illustrierte Blätter im Verlag der „Section Strehlen“ des Gebirgsvereins für die Sächsisch-Böhmische Schweiz. Nr. 4, 1886. However, the exact motivation behind this planting remains uncertain. It is unclear whether it was intended as a permanent marker to resolve a dispute with his neighbor or as part of an agreement between them. Furthermore, the age of the tree at the time of planting remains undisclosed. The tree's significance became increasingly evident over the years. In 1858, Maximilian Eckhardt added a tree signature of the poplar on the horizon in his Graphic View of Leubnitz from the North. During the Prussian-Austrian War of 1866, the poplar, already quite majestic, played a unique role. However, the fighting took place further south in Bohemia, so the poplar remained undamaged. After that, the platform served as a vantage point with a panoramic view and was increasingly visited by excursionists. Unfortunately, the exact duration of its existence in this capacity is not documented. The oldest known photograph of the tree dates back to 1878.
The road from Babisnau to Golberode and Possendorf passed by the border tree. However, in 1883, plans emerged to relocate this communication path. The landowner Gießmann, concerned about the potential impact on his neighboring field's yield due to the influx of numerous excursionists, considered cutting down the poplar. By this time, the tree had gained recognition not only as a natural landmark but also as a valuable sighting point for geodetic and similar activities. To prevent the felling of the poplar, delegates of the Mountain Association for Saxon-Bohemian Switzerland, established in 1877, convened a meeting on January 27, 1884. Negotiations with the owner of the poplar ensued, ultimately resulting in the sale of the tree to the Mountain Club for 300 marks. Additionally, the club leased the surrounding land, spanning 150 square meters. On May 6, 1884, the boundary stones were set by surveyors. Following the purchase, Ernst Wilhelm Zöllner established the Gebirgsverein section Golberode-Babisnau. Interestingly, the landowner Gießmann also became a member of the association. On May 17, 1885, the section inaugurated the first lookout scaffold, built for 360 marks. The scaffold, measuring about four to five meters in height, featured a viewing platform approximately three meters high, accessible via 16 steps. An open shelter for weather protection was situated beneath the platform, which was later partially enclosed.
In 1886, the April edition of Bergblumen, illustrated sheets of the Strehlen Section, featured an article on the poplar accompanied by a drawing that depicted its nearly spherical crown. Over the years, members of the Strehlen and Golberode-Babisnau Mountain Club Sections planted four oak trees near the poplar between 1887 and 1896. The first oak, known as the Wettin oak, likely perished shortly after planting. To commemorate the 800th anniversary of the House of Wettin in 1889, another oak was planted. In the same year, the Gebirgsverein purchased 150 square meters of surrounding land for 12 marks per square rod. An oak was planted in 1890 to honor Imperial Chancellor Otto von Bismarck, known as the Bismarck Oak, and in the spring of 1896, the King Albert Oak was added in honor of King Albert. At one point, the poplar was surrounded by three oaks; however, only the Bismarck oak remains standing today. A photograph from June 1897, which also captures the lookout tower, reveals the poplar with its characteristic round crown. In 1899, the deteriorating and partially vandalized lookout scaffold underwent repairs.
On September 21, 1922, the Gebirgsvereinssektion Golberode-Babisnau, serving as the builder, celebrated the inauguration of a new four-meter-high lookout scaffold. This construction took two weeks to complete. A redthorn hedge was planted in 1925. A decree issued by the district governor of Dresden-Bautzen on December 28, 1936, designated the poplar as a natural monument under the Reichsnaturschutzgesetz (RNG) 128 years after its planting.Karen Trinks: Naturschutz regional: Baum-Naturdenkmale in der Region oberes Elbtal/Osterzgebirge. Hrsg.: Staatliches Umweltfachamt Radebeul. Kapitel 6. Naturdenkmale im Weißeritzkreis, pp. 100. From 1944 until the end of World War II, an anti-aircraft squadron was stationed at the poplar. As the German lines on the ground failed to hold, the poplar stood at the center of the war effort, and shortly before the war's end, there were plans to cut it down due to its status as a prominent visual marker. However, these plans were not carried out. In 1945, the Mountain Club disbanded, and the parcel containing the poplar and the Bismarck oak came under the care of the municipality of Bärenklause-Kautzsch. In 1957, Babisnau was annexed to the municipality of Bärenklause-Kautzsch in the district of Freital. A year later, on August 23, 1958, the Freital District Council designated the poplar as a natural monument for the second time in a resolution (108/58). During the late 1950s, the lookout structure was closed by the building authorities due to its unsafe condition resulting from weathering and wanton damage. However, in 1962/63, the Friends of Freital built a new steel viewing platform to replace the old one. On June 21, 1961, the Babisnau poplar with parcel 36a and the two surrounding parcels 35a and 40 were declared public property, which made them subject to state administration. However, the care remained with the municipality. During a strong thunderstorm on July 20, 1967, with hail following temperatures of 30 degrees Celsius, the poplar lost a third of its now large crown. One of the three main shoots going upward broke off, causing the crown to lose its spherical shape. The height was reduced from about 26 to about 20 meters. Because of its size, two tractors were needed to haul away the broken branch. From then on, the crown of the Bismarck oak, which was also large by then, increasingly took over the role of an eye-catcher from afar.