It was the first of the National Parks of Spain. When it was created 22 July 1918 with help from Pedro Pidal, 1st Marquess of Villaviciosa de Asturias, it covered the western part of today's national park, centered on the Lakes of Covadonga.
The Parque Nacional de la Montaña de Covadonga, as it then was called, had an area of 169.25 km². On 30 May 1995 and then on 3 December 2014, the park was extended to include its current total area of 671.27 km².
On 9 July 2003, UNESCO approved Biosphere Reserve status for the National Park. Picos de Europa is one of several biosphere reserves in the Cantabrian Mountains which are being integrated into a single super-reserve to be known as "Gran Cantábrica".[1]
Vega de Liordes, an enclave in the León sector of Picos de Europa belonging to the municipality of Posada de Valdeón registered −35.8 °C (−32.4 °F), a record low temperature, on January 7, 2021.[2][3]
Flora and fauna
Several types of woods can be found in the area; trees include beeches and Cantabrian Holm Oaks.
There are many protected animal species, like the Cantabrian capercaillie (Tetrao urogallus cantabricus), the Bearded vulture (Gypaetus barbatus), the Cantabrian brown bear and the Iberian wolf (Canis lupus signatus). The most representative animal of the Picos de Europa is the Cantabrian chamois (Rupicapra pyrenaica parva) or rebeco, of which there are many sculptures around the park.
