{"id":2573,"date":"2024-09-01T11:15:00","date_gmt":"2024-09-01T11:15:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/4umadrid.com\/?p=2573"},"modified":"2026-08-29T19:46:01","modified_gmt":"2026-08-29T17:46:01","slug":"el-ahuehuete-del-retiro-un-tesoro-vivo-en-el-corazon-de-madrid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/4umadrid.com\/en\/el-ahuehuete-del-retiro-un-tesoro-vivo-en-el-corazon-de-madrid\/","title":{"rendered":"The ahuehuete of the Retreat: the oldest tree in Madrid"},"content":{"rendered":"

Madrid is a city where history and nature intertwine in surprising ways. One of its best-kept secrets is not a monument or a museum, but a tree: the ahuehuete<\/strong> of the Retiro Park<\/a>, planted in 1633 and considered the oldest living specimen in the city.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This giant has survived wars, droughts, and nearly four centuries of urban growth. What's more, it's just a few meters from the park's busiest entrance, so seeing it won't require any detour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is a Montezuma cypress?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Montezuma cypress, whose scientific name is *Taxodium mucronatum*, is a conifer native to the humid regions of Mexico and the southern United States. It is not a willow, although it is sometimes mistaken for one: it belongs to the cypress family and loses some of its foliage in winter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Its name in Nahuatl, *ahuehuetl*, means "old man of the water," referring to its habit of growing near rivers and lakes. In its natural habitat, it can live for more than 2,000 years and reach heights of 40 meters, with trunks that in some cases exceed 14 meters in diameter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The most famous example of this species is the Tule Tree in Oaxaca, Mexico. It is estimated to be over 1,500 years old, and its trunk is so thick that it takes more than 30 people holding hands to encircle it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The ahuehuete tree of El Retiro: a guardian of almost four centuries<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The ahuehuete tree in El Retiro was planted in 1633 by order of the Count-Duke of Olivares, the influential minister of Philip IV, within the ambitious project of beautifying the gardens of the Buen Retiro Palace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those gardens were designed to impress the court and foreign visitors. The tree, brought from Mexico, was one of the many exotic species introduced to the park at that time. However, very few have survived to the present day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, a section of geometrically laid-out garden with clipped hedges still stands in the Parterre area. It is one of the few remaining examples in Spain of the French landscape style that dominated the 17th century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The tree has withstood the passage of time, the harsh weather, and the damage of the Civil War, when the Retiro Park was the scene of fierce fighting. It lost some of its main branches then, but it still stands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Data about the ahuehuete tree in Retiro<\/h3>\n\n\n\n