Dilijan

Dilijan National Park was established in 2002 in northern Armenia, in Tavush province, and protects some 240 km². Its territory had been protected as a reserve since 1958.

It is one of the most wooded and humid areas in a country that is mostly arid and mountainous, and for that contrast it is popularly known as the Armenian Switzerland. The vegetation is deciduous forest of oriental beech, oak and hornbeam, with stands of thousand-year-old yew in the Akhnabat valley, and the park preserves mineral springs that gave rise to the spa town of Dilijan.

Among its notable places are Lake Parz, set among the woods, and a remarkable density of medieval monastic heritage: the monasteries of Haghartsin, of the tenth to thirteenth centuries, and Goshavank, founded in 1188 by the jurist Mkhitar Gosh, author of the first Armenian legal code, both inside or on the edge of the park. The wildlife includes brown bear, Caucasian lynx, red deer and a rich forest birdlife. Dilijan is also the seat of the UWC international college, which has brought students from all over the world to the district.