It was established in 1992 as part of the newly founded Rila National Park. In 2000 some territory of the national park was reassigned to the Rila Monastery and was recategorized as a nature park because by law all lands in national parks are exclusively state owned. Nowadays most of the park is owned by the monastery. The park includes one nature reserve, Rila Monastery Forest, with an area of 36.65 km2 or 14% of its total territory.