Kopaonik

Kopaonik National Park was established in 1981 in southern Serbia, on the massif of the same name, and protects some 119 km². Its summit, Pančićev vrh, rises above 2,000 metres.

Its botanical value is notable and comes in part from the substrate: wide areas of the massif are serpentinite, an ultrabasic rock rich in heavy metals and poor in nutrients on which only a specialised flora prospers. That circumstance, together with the massif's isolation, has produced a high number of Balkan and Serbian endemics, among them several species described by the botanist Josif Pančić, who devoted much of his work to these mountains and whose mausoleum crowns the summit that bears his name.

The name Kopaonik refers to mining: the massif was worked from Roman and medieval times for its deposits of lead, silver and iron, and traces of those workings remain. Today the dominant activity is tourism: the largest ski resort in Serbia operates on its slopes, and its expansion inside the park is the main management conflict, along with the associated building development.