Fir Empress

Time: 90 min
Kids: Yes
Dogs: Yes

Fir Empress (Jela Car) is deservedly the real empress among the trees and the pride of our forests. It is the largest tree on Velebit and at the same time the largest common fir in all of Europe. Oh, how inappropriate that "common" sounds with her stature. She can be many things, but by no means common.

She is 47.5 meters high, and her circumference is 5.9 meters. The numbers sound impressive, but it's only when you see her standing like that among completely average relatives and friends that you realize how special she is. It is not known how old she is, and experts assume the same as any non-expert, that she has been alive for centuries. She was even taller, the lightning fairly shortened her. It seems that, apart from that unfortunate event, life pampered her when she lived so long without being cut down by some disease or an axe.

I found several different figures about her height and girth, and I stick to those published by Croatian Forests in 2020. All other data are older and mention the same, slightly smaller dimensions, and the trees are the same as the prices of olive oil. Every year they grow a little.

It doesn't matter whether you come from the direction of Krasno via Careva kuća or Bakovec Kosinjski. Just follow the signs and the forest path will lead you straight to the fir tree.