Pi de les Tres Branques

Pi de les Tres Branques 1905

Pi de les Tres Branques ( Catalan for three-armed branched pine ) is a traditional symbol in the sense of a cultural heritage as a representation of the unity of the Catalan countries ( Països Catalans ) in Spain .

The 28 meter high Scots Pine (Pinus sylvestris) is located in the municipality of Castellar del Riu on the road on Pla de Campllong not far from the city of Berga and is the place of major political and cultural gatherings every year in Catalonia .

history

In historical records from 1746 the Bishop of Solsona describes this place; he called it a symbol of the Holy Trinity .

The cultural significance goes back to the 13th century. Legend has it that King Jaume I of Aragon spent one night there while traveling through Catalonia and experienced an inspiring dream under the Pi de les Tres Branques that he was destined to conquer and rule three kingdoms. Political symbolism was revived during the Catalan Renaixença in the late 19th century. In 1888 Jacint Verdaguer wrote a poem on the Pi de les Tres Branques .

Seal mark 1904

In 1901, the owner Tomàs Campà handed over the rights of use for the tree and adjacent land to the nationalist organization Unió Catalanista . In 1904 the first rally took place under the tree.

In 1915 (other sources 1913) the Pi de les Tres Branques , estimated to be more than 700 years old, began to die off. Various sources cite lightning as the cause, others cite vandalism as the cause. The tree was then attacked several times by opponents who opposed the symbolism. In 1939, after the end of the civil war , Franco's supporters made an attempt to topple the tree, but were prevented from doing so by the local population.

On November 4, 1985, the old monumental tree and the surrounding area with the new three-armed branching Pi Jove about 200 meters away (whose age is estimated to be about 200 years with a height of 19 meters) by the Department of Environment ( Direcció General de Medi Ambient ) placed under protection as a natural monument .

In 1986, with more than 14,000 participants, a record attendance at the event at the Pi de les Tres Branques was achieved.

In 2014 the taller of the two trunks of the tree was sawed off by strangers.