The Web site at (
visit link) tells us:
"ANCIENT OLIVE TREE
Lat. Olea europea mill.
The ancient olive is one of the oldest trees in the Mediterranean, a fact that has been proved by research carried out on samples of this ancient olive tree. The research was conducted by the Ruder Boškovic Institute in Zagreb, in the 1960s. The method of carbon analysis (by applying radioactive isotope of carbon C14 on the wood sample taken from the tree trunk) showed that the olive tree is about 1600 years old.
During a storm in the 1970s the olive split open. The "wounds" resulting from the splitting were preserved with concrete (at that time this was a very common method of preservation in arboriculture).
The projection of the tree top is 22x8 meters, measuring a height of 6 meters.
Even today the olive tree fructifies (bears fruit) so that it is used to produce olive oil.
Over the last three years olives were picked in October, each year an average of 30 kg of olives was collected. This amount of 30 kg of olives yielded an average of 4.1 kg of extra virgin olive oil (its chemical components were tested at the laboratory of the Public Health Institute in Pula). The best chemical analysis showed 0.11% of non-saturated fatty acids, whereas the peroxide number was 1.95.
The ancient olive is an integral part of Brijuni's fascinating landscape and owing to its lush and rich crown, as well as impressive size of trunk, the tree adds to the beauty of this unique micro location."