Linden trees from Croatian town of Petrinja to be planted in cities on Destination Napoleon Cultural Route

ZAGREB, 21 Jan (Hina) – The city of Petrinja is one of 51 members of the European Federation of Napoleonic Cities (Destination Napoleon Cultural Route), and at the meeting via the Zoom platform on Friday it was proposed that Petrinja’s linden trees be planted in the French city of Autun as well.

In Destination Napoleon,  51 cities in more than 10 countries are placing their Napoleonic historical heritage in its European dimension.

The city of Petrinja, in cooperation with the Croatian Forestry Institute, is carrying out a project of cloning protected linden trees in Petrinja’s city park as a protected monument of park architecture.

The project is aimed at preserving the gene pool of centuries-old linden trees included in the list of protected trees in the Republic of Croatia.

At the meeting in November 2022, it was proposed to plant Petrinja cloned linden trees in other member cities. The last meeting where the project was discussed was held on Thursday.

The director of Petrinja’s Tourist Board, Kristina Suppe, told Hina that it was proposed that the Petrinja linden trees be planted in the French town of Autun, where the annual Steering Committee of the European Federation of Napoleonic Cities will be held in early June 2023.

“We support the project of planting linden trees in other European cities and will involve all participants in the implementation of the project,” said Suppe.

She said that the largest linden tree has a diameter of 2.3 metres and a circumference of seven metres.

On European Heritage Day, observed on  20 October 2022, Petrinja’s Tourist Board organised the planting of two linden trees in Prnjavor Čuntićki which were taken from Petrinja’s city park. 

The trees were planted by French Ambassador to Croatia Gael Veyssiere and Mayor Magdalena Komes, and the event came across a positive response from the European Federation of Napoleonic Cities.