Sebezhsky National Park, National park in Pskov Oblast, Russia.
Sebezhsky National Park is a large protected area in Pskov Oblast featuring numerous lakes, pine forests, and hills shaped by glacial movements. The territory covers approximately 500 square kilometers with diverse habitats and varied topography.
People settled on the lake shores in antiquity, and by the 15th century the land was widely farmed under Pskov. From that century the area was contested between the Grand Duchy of Moscow and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, passing to Russia in 1772 with the First Partition of Poland. In the 1950s many swamps were drained for farmland, and in the early 1990s, with agriculture in crisis, the area was turned into a national park.
The park's emblem shows the bell tower of the former Church of the Nativity in Sebezh, a landmark of the town's religious architecture. The symbol ties the protected area to the district's Orthodox heritage and its lakeside townscape.
Visitors need permits from the Federal Security Service to access zones near the Latvian border. Designated areas allow hunting and fishing for those with proper authorization.
The park's first director, Dmitry Sergeyevich Bezobrazov, led it for 13 years after its creation on 8 January 1996. The scientific case for the protected area was prepared by geographer V. A. Isachenkov. Since 2025 the park has hosted volunteer programmes of the Potanin Charitable Foundation's School of the Foundation.
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