The Napoleon Oak (Dąb Napoleona) – a now-defunct natural monument, this English oak growing in Zabór was the thickest tree of its species in Poland. It burned down on November 15, 2010, most likely set on fire by vandals. Its circumference was 1,052 cm (at a height of 1.3 meters from the highest point of the tree's base). At 22 meters high, the oak is estimated to have been an acorn tree around 1300 (its age is 660-700 years). The tree had a large hollow inside that could accommodate a dozen people at once. The tree's habit was typical of trees growing in open spaces (a massive trunk and spreading crown) – different from, for example, the Białowieża oaks, such as the Car Oak or the Jagiełło Oak. Before the war, it was listed among 78 natural monuments in the Zielona Góra district. In 1920, the then Princess Hermine von Schönaich-Carolath of the Reuss family personally named the tree after Professor Theodor Schube (a German botanist and nature conservationist who studied Silesian natural monuments and authored, among other works, the Waldbuch von Schlesien). After her husband's death, the Princess became the second wife of former Emperor Wilhelm II in 1922, receiving the title of Empress. This brought the oak fame both locally and throughout Silesia. In 1936, the tree was listed in the "Book of Nature Conservation" kept by the starost of Zielona Góra. The tree's Polish name comes from a legend that Napoleon Bonaparte rested under its branches after crossing the Oder River during his expedition to Russia in 1812. Before it finally burned down, the oak was set on fire several times by vandals.
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