Wolframslinde, Natural monument and ancient lime tree in Bad Kötzting, Germany.

The Wolframslinde is an ancient lime tree in Bad Kötzting that renews itself each year with green leaves and flowers despite its hollow interior. The trunk shows signs of age, yet the living bark and canopy remain active and growing.

The summer lime (Tilia platyphyllos) has a trunk circumference of 12.21 metres and a height of 13 metres. Its main crown was severely damaged by storms in 1950. In 1967 the tree surgeon Michael Maurer treated and propped the tree, removing decayed trunk wood down to healthy wood, a practice now known to encourage fungal attack. The tree has been hollow for centuries and stands essentially on its bark.

The name honors medieval poet Wolfram von Eschenbach, whose works connected the region to tales of knights and distant lands. Visitors sense how literature and landscape have been intertwined here for centuries.

The Wolframslinde stands in Ried am Haidstein, a hamlet near Bad Kötzting in the Bavarian Forest, not in the town centre. The hollow trunk is held together by its bark and has been propped since 1967, so visitors should keep a respectful distance and not climb or lean on it.

The tree has been hollow for centuries and now stands almost entirely on its bark. In 1967 the tree surgeon Michael Maurer treated and propped it up, cutting decayed wood back to healthy tissue, a measure now considered harmful because it encourages fungal attack.