Eight Beatitudes Tree

The Achtzaligheden tree is a Scots pine on the territory of the Kempen municipality of Lille, located near the Rollekensberg in the Lilse forests. He is known for his erratic shape and is therefore a flying pine. The tree, named after the eight beatitudes of Christ, owes its name to the fact that it originally had the exceptional number of eight trunks. Just before the Second World War, however, one diseased trunk is said to have been sawn off, in order to prevent further contamination of the tree. According to another story doing the rounds, poachers are said to have sawed off the trunk to take revenge on a forest ranger who had caught them earlier. Its exact age could not yet be determined with certainty, but it is estimated that its earliest existence dates from around 1850. In any case, the tree was already mentioned in a work on the most remarkable trees in Belgium from 1910.

Eddy&Rita