Žale Central Cemetery (), often simply Žale, is the largest and the central

cemetery A cemetery, burial ground, gravesite, graveyard, or a green space called a memorial park or memorial garden, is a place where the remains of many death, dead people are burial, buried or otherwise entombed. The word ''cemetery'' (from Greek ...

Ljubljana {{Infobox settlement , name = Ljubljana , official_name = , settlement_type = Capital city , image_skyline = {{multiple image , border = infobox , perrow = 1/2/2/1 , total_widt ...

and

Slovenia Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia, is a country in Central Europe. It borders Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the south and southeast, and a short (46.6 km) coastline within the Adriati ...

. It is located in the Bežigrad District and operated by the Žale Public Company.

History

The cemetery was built in 1906 behind Holy Cross Church. The first burial was performed in the same year on May 3, when the priest Martin Malenšek was transferred there from the old Navje cemetery. During World War I, many of the fallen soldiers of all sides were buried in Žale. However, they were all

Roman Catholics The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

, while

Protestants Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...

Jews Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

and

Muslims Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

were buried in Navje. In 1923 the authorities allowed Jews and Muslims to be buried in Žale too, but only on the exterior side of the cemetery wall. In 1931 the new part of the cemetery (B part) opened. The Italian military cemetery was arranged there and many Italian soldiers were reburied from the A part. At the same year the Jewish part of the cemetery was arranged too, however it was separated from the main part by a fence. In 1939 the

Ossuary An ossuary is a chest, box, building, well, or site made to serve as the final resting place of human skeletal remains. They are frequently used where burial space is scarce. A body is first buried in a temporary grave, then after some years th ...

of World War I Victims was built by architect

Edvard Ravnikar Edvard Ravnikar (4 December 1907 – 23 August 1993) was a Slovenian architect. Ravnikar was born in Novo Mesto and was a student of architect Jože Plečnik. Later, he led the new generation of Slovene architects, notable for developing ...

, where 5,258 of the victims of this war as well as of the associated conflicts were later buried. With the growth of

Ljubljana {{Infobox settlement , name = Ljubljana , official_name = , settlement_type = Capital city , image_skyline = {{multiple image , border = infobox , perrow = 1/2/2/1 , total_widt ...

the need for graves was growing too. In the 1930s the cemetery was proclaimed the central cemetery of Ljubljana and the planning of its expansion began. As the plans of the architect Ivo Spinčič failed to please the authorities, in 1936 a new design was commissioned from the architect Jože Plečnik. The new part, named Plečnik Žale Cemetery, was completed in 1942. It is a special architecture with monumental entrance with big arch, with different small chapels and some additional buildings. Until 1968, only coffin burials were performed in Žale, but in that year the Žale Crematorium was built and the urn burials became available too. In 1974 with the construction of the C part, the cemetery expanded again. The C part was designed by the architect Peter Kerševan. In 1988 the D part (''Nove Žale'', New Žale) designed by Marko Mušič opened. As of 2008 the cemetery measures 375,000 m² and comprises sections A, B, and C east of Tomačevo Street (), and section D west of the road. The fifth part of the cemetery, the Plečnik Žale, is not used for burials but for pre-burial ceremonies and associated cemetery activities. More than 150,000 people have been buried at Žale, about 2,000 of them prominent. The whole area of Žale has been proclaimed a cultural monument of Slovenia. Since August 2021, the Plečnik Žale Cemetery has been inscribed as part of Plečnik's legacy on the

UNESCO World Heritage List World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural heritag ...

Notable people

About 2,000 prominent people are buried in Žale cemetery, including: * Fran Albreht, author, editor and politician * Vera Albreht, poet * Vladimir Bartol, writer * Katja Boh, sociologist, politician and diplomat * Ivan Cankar, author and political activist * Fran Saleški Finžgar, writer and priest * Rihard Jakopič, painter * Davorin Jenko, composer, author of the music for the

Serbia , image_flag = Flag of Serbia.svg , national_motto = , image_coat = Coat of arms of Serbia.svg , national_anthem = () , image_map = , map_caption = Location of Serbia (gree ...

national anthem A national anthem is a patriotic musical composition symbolizing and evoking eulogies of the history and traditions of a country or nation. The majority of national anthems are marches or hymns in style. American, Central Asian, and European ...

* Edvard Kardelj, Communist leader * Dragotin Kette, poet * Edvard Kocbek, poet, essayist and politician * Milan Komar, philosopher * Janez Evangelist Krek, politician * Dragotin Lončar, author, politician, historian * Janez Menart, poet * Josip Murn Aleksandrov, poet * Lili Novy, poet * Anton Peterlin, physicist * Leonid Pitamic, jurist * Jože Plečnik, architect * Rudi Šeligo, writer, politician and playwright * Dominik Smole, writer and playwright * Matej Sternen, painter *

Gregor Strniša Gregor Strniša (18 November 1930 – 23 January 1987) was a Slovenian poet, playwright, and songwriter. He is considered one of the most important Slovene language, Slovene-language poet of the second half of the 20th century. He spent most of h ...

, poet * Jernej Šugman, actor * Josip Vidmar, literary critic * Milan Vidmar, electrical engineer, chess player and theorist * Angela Vode, politician, author, feminist activist * Gregor Žerjav, politician * Vitomil Zupan, writer * Oton Župančič, poet

References

External links

The Garden of All Saints
3D visualisation of Plečnik Žale by Boštjan Burger.
360° views of Žale on Plečnik.net

Architecture of Žale

Search engine for graves in Žale
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zale Buildings and structures in Ljubljana Cemeteries in Slovenia Religious buildings and structures in Ljubljana Tourist attractions in Ljubljana Bežigrad District Jože Plečnik buildings