CNN
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For over 200 years on the Hadrian wall built in Rome, England, the famous Sycamore tree ruins discovered a new home almost two years after being illegally cut.
In September 2023, the removal of the tree from its location known as the “Sycamore Gap,” a prominent dip on Hadrian’s wall, sparked worldwide rage. The Sycamore Gap is considered one of the most photo shoots in the UK, and became famous by millions when it appeared in Kevin Costner’s 1991 blockbuster film Robin Hood: The Prince of Thieves.
In May, two men committed criminal damage for cutting down a groundbreaking tree.
Now, the section will be permanently displayed at Sill: National Landscape Discovery Center, about two miles (3 km) from where it once stood.
The UK national trust gave the largest portion of the rescued trunk to Northumberland National Park, where the trees are located.
“Days and months after the trees were cut, the threshold has become a place of celebration and memory. Visitors have left post-it memos, letters, drawings and messages expressing their sadness, love and hope,” the park said in a press release Thursday.
Public consultations took place in the aftermath of cutting over the future of tree trunks. “The resulting exhibit honors the natural shape of the tree, encouraging people to engage in it in a deeply personal way,” Sill said in a press release Thursday.
A park spokesperson told CNN on Thursday that the treepiece, which has been open to the public since Friday, can be “impressed and hugged.”
The trunk is as upright as it once was, surrounded by benches of bends and creeks of trees, forming a giant leaf-shaped canopy.
Several tributes from the local community are carved into the wood.
“The original tree may disappear in the form we knew it, but its legacy remains. It has been endlessly positive ever since, confirming our belief that people’s nature and place are inseparable and interdependent.”
“This committee was the biggest honor of my career,” says Charlie Winnie, the artist behind the new exhibition, in the release.
“We really hope that by doing something a little, we will allow the people of Northumberland and those who had this tree close to their hearts to handle the losses they still feel since that day in September 2023 when the tree was illegally reduced,” he added.
“This piece looks forward to hope, the trees are regrowing, and the Sycamore gap will always be a magical place,” Winnie continued.
