Colindres (EFE).- The enigmatic holm oak of San Roque de Colindres has achieved sixth place in the European contest “Tree of the Year 2023” after receiving a total of 10,174 votes from the public over the Internet, just 107 votes behind fifth and just over 4,000 votes from the podium.
The four-hundred-year-old Spanish representative has tried to become, along with 16 unique trees from as many European countries, the best European tree in an edition marked by the impact of support campaigns organized through social networks.
This was explained this afternoon at the European Parliament (Brussels) during the awards ceremony by the Environmental Partnership Association (EPA), the organizing association of an event that seeks to promote the influence of trees on Europe’s natural and cultural heritage , and promoted in Spain by the NGO Bosques Sin Fronteras.
The winner, which from the beginning was the prominent leader in the number of endorsements, was Fabrikant oak from Poland (45,718 votes), followed by Dragon oak from Slovakia (18,198 votes) and, in third place, the Ukrainian colony of apple trees (14,219 votes).
Four centuries between kings and merchants
The holm oak of San Roque de Colindres, which won the prize for the best Tree in Spain 2023, thus closes an adventure in which it has had the support of numerous personalities from the world of Spanish culture, politics and sports, being one of its exponents the Cantabrian actor, Eduardo Noriega, who starred in a video highlighting values, history and the relationship with people.
About 400 years old and located in the San Roque neighborhood next to a hermitage that bears his name, the holm oak stands out for its enigmatic history and symbology, as it was erected at the foot of an old Camino Real and survived deforestation campaigns.
The mount of La Redonda, where this tree of the family of the fagáceas is located, was once a dense forest crossed by one of the most important roads in the Middle Ages when it was traveled by merchants who, from Castilla, moved their products to the Cantabrian to ship them to northern European countries.
According to the chronicles, kings and queens also visited it on their state trips, such as Juana de Castilla who, accompanied by her mother, Queen Isabel La Católica, took this road to Flanders to marry Felipe de Habsburgo, as well as Carlos V in reverse in search of his retirement until the monastery of Yuste.