Platane de Saint-Guilhem-le-Désert

Saint-Guilhem-le-Désert

On the Place de la Liberté, between the fountain and the chevet of the abbey church, a single plane covers the whole space with its shade: the 'King Plane', as the village people call it, about 20 m high and more than 6 m in girth, 7 m according to the town hall. Its date of birth is better known than that of many trees: 'on 20 January 1855 the trees of the Square were planted', notes Abbé Étienne Cassan, parish priest from 1848 to 1858, in a parish register. The Department and a local tradition say 1848, the year when so many communes planted a tree to salute the Republic; a small sign gives 21 January 1855, and some have seen in it a commemoration of the death of Louis XVI, which local scholarship rules out under the regime of Napoleon III. There were therefore several trees, four according to one tradition, to shade the square as everywhere in the Midi; the others have disappeared. The tree is alive but fragile: parasites have hollowed the trunk and the main branches, as found in the years 2005–2007, and guy-ropes limit the risk of falling. It received the Arbre remarquable de France label in 2020, with an agreement committing the commune to keep it until its natural end.

Mairie de Saint-Guilhem-le-Désert — Le village ↗

Getting there : The village is closed to cars: car parks at the entrance, then one walks up the main street to the Place de la Liberté, in front of the abbey. The tree can be seen at any hour and in any season; the café terraces of the square live in its shade. The abbey church of Gellone, a stage on the Arles route to Compostela, is open to visitors outside service times.

Opening times and access details are given as a guide only: check before you set out.

Ambient sound