A tree expert attaches measuring equipment to Anne Frank's chestnut tree in Amsterdam, Netherlands (File Photo - 19 Nov 2007)

Conservationists and Dutch officials have reached a deal to save a 150-year-old chestnut tree that brought comfort to Anne Frank as she hid from the Nazis.

The city of Amsterdam had planned to cut down the diseased tree, fearing that it would topple onto the Anne Frank house.

In a deal struck between the Support Anne Frank Tree Foundation and Dutch officials, a metal structure will be built around the tree, keeping it propped up for another five to 10 years.

The conservation group announced the deal Wednesday, saying the support structure should be completed by May.

The group won a court injunction in November halting the planned destruction of the historic chestnut tree.

In her diary, Anne Frank described how she would gaze at the tree and the sky and birds above it, saying it brought her happiness.

Frank and her family hid in the attic of an Amsterdam house for two years before the Nazis discovered them and shipped them off to the Buchenwald death camp. Only her father survived the war.

The diary Anne Frank kept during those years was found after the war and has since become an icon of Jewish suffering during the Holocaust.

Some information for this report was provided by AFP and Reuters.