In the middle of the Great Courtyard we can see a fast-growing but short-lived tree from central China – Paulownia tomentosa. It is a deciduous tree with a broad crown, growing to a height of around 20 metres. The branches in the lower and middle part of the crown are mostly horizontal, while in the upper part they point upwards. The leaves are very large (15-30 cm), oval to heart-shaped, matt, dark green and velvety from above, covered with short hairs, grey and felted from below. Flowers are large, bell-shaped, light purple-blue. In Europe it flowers in May, before the foliage.