Navje Memorial Park (), the redesigned part of the former St. Christopher's Cemetery (), is a memorial park in

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 capital of

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, just behind the

Ljubljana railway station The Ljubljana railway station () is the principal railway station in Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia. It was completed on 18 April 1848, a year before the Austrian Southern Railway, connecting Vienna and Trieste, reached Ljubljana. Location ...

History

St. Christopher's Cemetery

St. Christopher's Cemetery was blessed in May 1779 by Johann Karl von Herberstein, the

Bishop of Ljubljana The Metropolitan Archdiocese of Ljubljana (, ) is a Latin ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in Slovenia.Exhibition and Convention Centre. Between the late 18th century and the early 20th century, it was the central town cemetery. In 1906, a new cemetery was established next to Holy Cross Church and most new burials gradually took place there. After 1926, burials no longer took place at St. Christopher's Cemetery, and it was destroyed in 1955 together with the two churches associated with it in order to create a

fairground Fairground most typically refers to a permanent space that hosts fairs. Fairground, Fairgrounds, Fair Ground or Fair Grounds may also refer to: Places Canada * Fairground, Ontario, a community United States * Fairground, St. Louis, a neighbo ...

for the 7th Congress of the

Communist Party of Yugoslavia The League of Communists of Yugoslavia, known until 1952 as the Communist Party of Yugoslavia, was the founding and ruling party of SFR Yugoslavia. It was formed in 1919 as the main communist opposition party in the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats a ...

.Hočevar, Ksenja. 2014. "Nekoč slavno pokopališče, danes konjenica prestolnice." ''Družina'' (6 July).
The various remains that were gathered from the site were transferred to a nearby common grave at what was intended to be the Baraga Seminary, and only

Jernej Kopitar Jernej Kopitar, also known as Bartholomeus Kopitar (21 August 1780 – 11 August 1844), was a Slovene linguist and philologist working in Vienna. He also worked as the Imperial censor for Slovene literature in Vienna. He is perhaps best known ...

and

Ivan Tušek Ivan () is a Slavic male given name, connected with the variant of the Greek name (English: John) from Hebrew meaning 'God is gracious'. It is associated worldwide with Slavic countries. The earliest person known to bear the name was the Bul ...

were actually reburied in Navje.

Design

In the 1930s, a small portion of the old cemetery, including the arcade porch that was built around 1865, was transformed in a " pantheon" of famous

Slovenes The Slovenes, also known as Slovenians ( ), are a South Slavs, South Slavic ethnic group native to Slovenia and adjacent regions in Italy, Austria and Hungary. Slovenes share a common ancestry, Slovenian culture, culture, and History of Slove ...

. The memorial park was designed by the architects

Jože Plečnik Jože Plečnik () (23 January 1872 – 7 January 1957) was a Slovenian architect who had a major impact on the modern architecture of Vienna, Prague and of Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia, most notably by designing the iconic Triple Bridge a ...

and

Ivo Spinčič Ivo is a masculine given name, in use in various European languages. The name used in western European languages originates as a Normannic name recorded since the High Middle Ages, and the French name Yves is a variant of it. The unrelated So ...

in collaboration with the gardener Anton Lah. Already in 1932, Plečnik had proposed building a monumental church on the same site, which would include a

crypt A crypt (from Greek κρύπτη (kryptē) ''wikt:crypta#Latin, crypta'' "Burial vault (tomb), vault") is a stone chamber beneath the floor of a church or other building. It typically contains coffins, Sarcophagus, sarcophagi, or Relic, religiou ...

with tombs of prominent Slovenes. The project, planned together with his student

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 ...

, was however rejected, and so Plečnik proposed the creation of Navje Memorial Park.

Later history

Between 1936 and 1940 several gravestones and tombstones of notable personalities were moved into the park, but because of the

Axis An axis (: axes) may refer to: Mathematics *A specific line (often a directed line) that plays an important role in some contexts. In particular: ** Coordinate axis of a coordinate system *** ''x''-axis, ''y''-axis, ''z''-axis, common names ...

invasion of Yugoslavia The invasion of Yugoslavia, also known as the April War or Operation 25, was a Nazi Germany, German-led attack on the Kingdom of Yugoslavia by the Axis powers which began on 6 April 1941 during World War II. The order for the invasion was put fo ...

in April 1941 the project was never completed. Many of the gravestones planned to be moved into Navje Memorial Park, such as those of Prešeren, Trubar, Maister, and Rusjan, were not brought in, and many graves of unimportant individuals, planned to be moved to

Žale Žale Central Cemetery (), often simply Žale, is the largest and the central cemetery in Ljubljana and Slovenia. It is located in the Bežigrad District and operated by the Žale Public Company. History The cemetery was built in 1906 behin ...

, have remained in the park. Plečnik's plans to enlarge the park were never carried out. After

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, the park was largely neglected and renovation took place only in the 1990s.

Prominent gravestones

Notable people's gravestones displayed at Navje Memorial Park include: *

Anton Aškerc Anton Aškerc (; 9 January 1856 – 10 June 1912) was a Slovenian poet and Roman Catholic priest who worked in Austria, best known for his epic poems. Aškerc was born into a peasant family near the town of Rimske Toplice in the Duchy of Styria, ...

(1856–1912), poet *

Josef Blasnik Josef may refer to *Josef (given name) *Josef (surname) * ''Josef'' (film), a 2011 Croatian war film *Musik Josef Musik Josef is a Japanese manufacturer of musical instruments. It was founded by Yukio Nakamura and is the only company in Japan spec ...

(1800–1872), editor *

Janez Bleiweis Janez Bleiweis (19 November 1808 – 29 November 1881) was a Slovene conservative politician, journalist, physician, veterinarian, and public figure. He was the leader of the so-called Old Slovene political movement. Already during his lifetime ...

(1808–1881), politician, known as "The Father of the Nation" *

Matija Čop Matija Čop (; 26 January 1797 – 6 July 1835), also known in German as Matthias Tschop, was a Slovene linguist, polyglot, literary historian and critic. Biography Čop was born in the small northern Carniolan town of Žirovnica, in what ...

(1797–1835), philologist and the closest friend and collaborator of the poet

France Prešeren France Prešeren () (3 December 1800 – 8 February 1849) was a 19th-century Romantic Slovene poet whose poems have been translated into many languages.

* Karel Dežman (1821–1889), historian and politician * Mihael Dežman (1783–1833), merchant * Jurij Flajšman (1818–1874), composer *

Ivan Grohar Ivan Grohar (15 June 1867 – 19 April 1911) was a Slovene Impressionist painter. Together with Rihard Jakopič, Matej Sternen, and Matija Jama, he is considered one of the leading figures of Slovene impressionism in the fin de siecle ...

(1867–1911), painter * Johann Nepomuk Hradeczky (1775–1846), Mayor of Ljubljana (1820–1846) * Luka Jeran (1818–1898),

Roman Catholic 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 ...

priest and missionary, founder of the Salesians of Don Bosco in the Slovenia *Josip Jurčič (1844–1881), novelist and editor *

(1780–1844), philologist *Anton Korošec (1872–1940), politician *Emil Korytko (1813–1839), Polish people, Polish ethnologist and political activist *Fran Levstik (1831–1887), writer and political activist *Anton Tomaž Linhart (1756–1795), playwright and historian *Kašpar Mašek (1794–1873), Slovenes, Slovene-Czech people, Czech composer *Fran Maselj (pen name: ''Podlimbarski'', 1851–1917), author and officer of the Austro-Hungarian Army *Anton Nedvěd (1829–1896), Slovene-Czech composer *Josef Ressel (1793–1857), Bohemian engineer and inventor of the naval propeller *Simon Rutar (1851–1903), historian *Edo Šlajmer (1864–1935), physician, founder of modern surgery in Slovenia *Josip Stritar (1836–1923), poet and literary critic *

(1835–1877), natural scientist and writer *Valentin Vodnik (1758–1819), poet and editor

References

{{Coord, 46, 3, 37.98, N, 14, 30, 42.67, E, type:landmark_region:SI, display=title Parks in Ljubljana Cemeteries in Slovenia Bežigrad District Establishments in the Duchy of Carniola 1770s establishments in the Habsburg monarchy 1779 establishments in Europe Jože Plečnik buildings Buildings and structures completed in 1936 20th-century architecture in Slovenia Cemeteries established in the 1770s Religious buildings and structures in Ljubljana