The Anne Frank Tree, a large horse chestnut tree in the centre of Amsterdam described in Anne Frank's Diary of a Young Girl, has blown down.

A spokesperson for the Anne Frank House said "there was a fierce gust of wind, we heard a noise and when we went to look it was lying on the ground."

The tree is mentioned three times in her diary. On 23 February 1944 she wrote: "… from my favourite spot on the floor I look up at the blue sky and the bare chestnut tree, on whose branches little raindrops shine… while this lasts I cannot be unhappy."

The horse chestnut is thought to be between 150 and 170 years old and has suffered both a fungus and a moth infestation. In November 2007 the city council ordered it cut down because of the risk it could fall, but a court injunction stopped the felling. In 2008 a structure was erected around it to support the crown.

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