IT’S a silent witness to the history of Cyprus: it’s lived through the Crusades, Venetian and Ottoman rule, British colonialism and independence.
It’s revered by local villagers and Cypriots who visit from far and wide. And now the Forestry Department is seeking to give formal protection to an olive tree said to be almost 1,000 years old outside the village of Anglisides in the Larnaca district.
The tree – the oldest living tree native to the island – is among 15 others proposed by the Forestry Department to the Town Planning Department for placement on a protection list.
“What we actually do is to go and find the old trees and try to protect them,” said Kyriacos Kyriacou, environmental officer at the Agriculture Ministry; “but there is a procedure to declare and so now we are waiting to hear back from the Town Planning Department.”
Panayiotis Andreou, 20, whose family owns the land on which the tree stands, told the Cyprus Mail his late grandfather had often spoken about the history of the tree, saying it dated at least as far back as the period of Frankish Crusader rule in Cyprus, which began in the 12th century.
He added: “It needs to be protected, but I come from a small village, no-one will cut it down or destroy it as everyone knows its value.”
Schools around the island have visited the tree and local residents clip the olive leaves at Easter to take to church for religious services.
Andreou remembers how proud he was of his grandfather, Panayiotis Stilli, who was recognised for his efforts in maintaining the tree’s health over the years. Stilli was presented with a plaque by the Ministry of Agriculture in Nicosia for his achievement. “I remember coming with my school, years ago, with the American Academy on an excursion, and I was really proud as it was my grandfather’s tree.
“The joke is, I don’t even like olives,” he added.
The trunk of the tree is four metres wide, inside which is a space of three square metres, which can fit 10 people. Olive trees are split open at the trunk from an early stage and over the years the split is widened with bricks stacked up to grow the tree in this way. The open circumference allows the olives to grow from the branches over a wider area, allowing sunlight to reach all the olives.
Other trees, such as the pistachio, which, however is not indigenous to Cyprus, are similar to the olive as they are slow-growing, prolonging their life for as long 1,000 years, the widely recognised life span of an oak tree. A pistachio tree in Apesia village, on the outskirts of the Limassol forest region, is believed to be 1,500 years old.
Kyriacou underlined the need for protection: “there is always a danger if someone wanted to go and cut these wonderful trees. No-one can stop them if the tree is privately owned.
“Unofficially, the olive tree is protected by the villagers, but officially it still needs to be protected.”
