THE OLD ELM IN SLIVEN WINS THE EUROPEAN TREE OF THE YEAR CONTEST

The Old Elm, a thousands years old symbol of the East Bulgarian city of Sliven, became the European tree of the year 2014. The Old Elm was announced the winner at a ceremony held in the European Parliament on Wednesday 19th March. Ten national trees participated in the contest and competed for the title in on-line voting.

The Old Elm in Sliven won 77 526 votes. The winner is determined from the results of the on-line voting, in which a large number of Bulgarians and friends of Bulgaria participated.

The Old elm tree is in the centre of Sliven. It is a natural phenomenon, about 1 100 years old and 10 metres high.The trunk diameter at the roots is over 5 metres and 65 centimetres.

The Old Elm was declared a protected tree. Once it was part of an ancient forest, that spread from the Rhodopi Mountains to the Black Sea and according to legends the city of Sliven was built in the place of this old forest.