Luther’s Oak (S14QR2)

Luther’s Oak

Luther’s Oak recalls the events in front of Elster Gate on 10 December 1520, when Martin Luther publicly burned the papal bull from Pope Leo X threatening to excommunicate him together with the ecclesiastical law book and books by his opponents. After the previous oak had been removed, a new tree was planted to mark the 300th anniversary of the Augsburg Confession on 25 June 1830. An attempt to cut it down illicitly in 1904 failed. In 1925, Hamburg sculptor Wilhelm Rex enhanced the area by adding a fountain and a stone bench in Art Deco style funded by local resident Paul Friedrich.