For alternative meanings of Bartek, see: Bartek (disambiguation).

Bartek (Polish

Polish language

Polish is a language of the Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages, used throughout Poland and by Polish minorities in other countries...

: Bartholomew) is an ancient oak

Oak

An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus Quercus , of which about 600 species exist. "Oak" may also appear in the names of species in related genera, notably Lithocarpus...

 tree in Poland

Poland

Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...

. It grows in Zagnańsk

Zagnansk

Zagnańsk is a village in Kielce County, Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship, in south-central Poland. It is the seat of the gmina called Gmina Zagnańsk. It lies approximately north of the regional capital Kielce. The village has a population of 1,726.The Bartek oak tree in the village is almost 650 years...

 near Kielce

Kielce

Kielce ) is a city in central Poland with 204,891 inhabitants . It is also the capital city of the Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship since 1999, previously in Kielce Voivodeship...

 in the Świętokrzyskie Mountains

Swietokrzyskie Mountains

Świętokrzyskie Mountains , are a mountain range in central Poland, in the vicinity of the city of Kielce. The mountain range consists of a number of separate ranges, the highest of which is Łysogóry . The two highest peaks are Łysica at 612 meters and Łysa Góra at 593 meters...

. Its age, previously estimated at up to 1200 years, has recently been established to be 650–670 years, with a corer used to extract a sample for a ring count. An accurate count is impossible, as Bartek's interior has hollowed with age. There are several older trees in Poland, both oaks and yews

Taxus baccata

Taxus baccata is a conifer native to western, central and southern Europe, northwest Africa, northern Iran and southwest Asia. It is the tree originally known as yew, though with other related trees becoming known, it may be now known as the English yew, or European yew.-Description:It is a small-...

 (some over 1000 years old), yet none of them has matched Bartek's fame.

The 30-metre tall Bartek measures 13.5 metres in girth at its base. Its crown spreads about 40 metres. King Casimir III

Casimir III of Poland

Casimir III the Great , last King of Poland from the Piast dynasty , was the son of King Władysław I the Elbow-high and Hedwig of Kalisz.-Biography:...

 (1310–1370) is known to have held court under Bartek. King Jan III Sobieski rested under the oak on his way back from the Battle of Vienna

Battle of Vienna

The Battle of Vienna took place on 11 and 12 September 1683 after Vienna had been besieged by the Ottoman Empire for two months...

 (1683). He reputedly hid a Turkish

Turkey

Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...

 sabre, an arquebus

Arquebus

The arquebus , or "hook tube", is an early muzzle-loaded firearm used in the 15th to 17th centuries. The word was originally modeled on the German hakenbüchse; this produced haquebute...

and a bottle of wine inside it to commemorate the victory.

The oak is still alive, but is in decline. In 1829 it had 14 main branches, today only 8 are left. In the 1920s the hollow inside the trunk was covered with limestone. The limestone was removed in the 1960s, replaced with resin-based filling and covered with bark. The living sapwood is very thin (5–20 cm). The weakened trunk has begun to lean toward the heavy branches.

External links

• Poland.gov: Bartek appears in the introduction to the government page on Poland's geography.
• Bernard Konarski, "Świetopelk Oak in Krepkowice is 621 years old": Bartek oak's age also established
• 360° picture of Bartek
• Gmina Zagnańsk More information about "Bartek" (in Polish)
• Oaks in Bialowieza
• Świętopełk tree