The lime trees of Trška Gora are a living monument to nature and history. Most of them are thought to have been planted in 1622, at the time of the construction of the Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, while the thickest of them is believed to be even older. With a girth of 810 centimetres, the latter is the thickest lime tree in Dolenjska and ranks among the fifteen thickest in Slovenia. Its hollow trunk is large enough to shelter ten adults.
For centuries, our ancestors gathered beneath the mighty canopy of these trees to talk, deliberate, resolve disputes and share wisdom. The stone wall around the trunk of the thickest lime tree and a preserved stone table bear witness to the trees’ role in the social life of the community.
Because of their age and their uniqueness, the Trška Gora lime trees are particularly vulnerable. They have been protected as a natural monument since 1992. Entering the hollow of the thickest lime tree is prohibited, since this could endanger the tree’s base.