There is the Westersingel again. In the sixties of the last century, the Westersingel underwent a reconstruction. A plane tree (Platanus hispanica) that was already seventy years old at the time was moved from the west side to the east side of the canal, the Mauritsweg (right).
However, the tree threatened to sink into the high groundwater in the XNUMXs. Then measures were taken to improve the growing place. Pavement around the tree has been removed and the soil around the tree is periodically raised. This way the tree can form new roots and the tree lifts itself up, as it were.
The tree was also given a rejuvenation treatment by pruning the crown. Through this rescue operation, the National Tree Foundation has included this plane tree as a fine example of tree conservation during reconstruction work in urban areas.
Did you know?
On the initiative of writer Breytenbach, the tree has been declared a symbolic 'grave of the unknown poet'. Since then, the plane tree has also been called the “Breytenbach tree”.
