Category Archives: Triglav National Park, Slovenia

Triglav National Park is the only national park in Slovenia. It was established in its modern form in 1981 and is located in the northwestern part of the country, respectively, the southeastern part of the Alpine massif. Mount Triglav, the highest peak of the Julian Alps, stands almost in the middle of the national park. From there, the valleys spread out radially, supplying water to two large river systems with their sources in the Julian Alps: the Soča and the Sava, flowing to the Adriatic and Black Sea, respectively.

2024 will mark a significant milestone for National Park, the Julian Alps region, and nature conservation in Slovenia. Throughout the year, we will hold events to commemorate the 100th anniversary of signing the lease agreement to establish the Alpine Conservation Park, the predecessor of Triglav National Park.

The early initiatives aimed at protecting natural landmarks, launched in the second half of the 19th century, were a spontaneous response to the increasing environmental threats posed by human activities after the Industrial Revolution. The first efforts to protect part of the Julian Alps, dating back to 1906, stemmed from the ideas of seismologist and naturalist Albin Belar.

On 4 April 2024, on the initiative of the Nature Conservation and Natural Monuments Protection Department operating within the Museum Society of Slovenia, the Ministry of Forests and Mines in the Belgrade-based government of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes approved the designation and protection of an area of approximately 1,400 hectares in the Triglav Lakes Valley. At the time, the estates of the Carniolan Religious Fund were under state administration, and this made it possible for the area’s managing authority, i.e. the Forest Directorate in Ljubljana and the two park initiators, namely the Museum Society of Slovenia and the Slovenian Mountaineering Society, to conclude a lease agreement.

The Alpine Conservation Park was established on 1 July 1924 following the signing of the agreement. This milestone marks the first legal protection regime to preserve nature based in Slovenia.

The lease term was 20 years, until 1 July 1944. The annual lease fee was set, park boundaries were marked, and a list of cadastral parcels making up the park was compiled. The designation was temporary since the laws at the time did not allow grazing areas to be permanently removed from commercial use.

The Alpine Conservation Park covered 1,400 hectares, while today’s Triglav National Park spans almost 84,000 hectares or four per cent of Slovenian territory.