The Pirin National Park occupies a large part of the beautiful Pirin mountain at an altitude of 1,008-2,914m. Century-old woods, giant peaks, dreadful abysses of circuses, emerald lakes, fragrant edelweiss fields, and clear rivers represent the natural habitat of wild goats, deer, bears, wild cats, wolves, and more.
Originally, the national park extended over a smaller area of 6,212 ha and was named Vihren after the highest peak in the mountain. The park was first declared as such in 1962 and encompassed the highest parts of the Demyanishki and Vihren ridges. In 1974, the national park was extended to cover most of the mountain and was renamed into Pirin. The present-day area of the park, which includes two natural reserves, is 40,332.4 ha. One of the reserves, Bayuvi Dupki-Dzhindzhiritsa, ranks among the oldest in Bulgaria. It was given the statute of a national reserve back in 1934 in order to ensure the protection of woods of white and black fir and the big variety of flora and fauna there. This reserve was declared a biosphere reserve by UNESCO in 1977. The other natural reserve in the Pirin National Park, Yulen, was declared as such in 1994. It hides an exceptional diversity of subalpine and alpine ecosystems and the beauty of all forms of the alpine relief.
