Cozia

Cozia National Park was declared in 1990 in Vâlcea county, in the Romanian Southern Carpathians, and protects some 170 km² around the massif of the same name, an isolated mountain block that rises above the gorge of the Olt River, one of the great natural routes between Transylvania and the south of the country.

The massif is of crystalline rock and has a very rugged relief, with sharp ridges, towers and rock spires produced by differential erosion, and a silhouette recognisable from afar. The vegetation is tiered from the oak woods of the lower levels to the mid-altitude beech forests and the summit grassland and scrub, with a rich flora that includes elements endemic to the Southern Carpathians.

In July 2017 its virgin beech forests were added to the World Heritage List within the serial property of the ancient and primeval beech forests of Europe. The Cozia component comprises two sectors separated by the Olt gorge: the Cozia massif itself and Lotrișor. Although beech is dominant, the pure stands of sessile oak are notable, and in the driest and warmest areas species such as manna ash and walnut appear. The park also preserves a notable monastic heritage, with Cozia monastery, founded in the fourteenth century.