Žale Central Cemetery, UNESCO World Heritage cemetery in Ljubljana, Slovenia.

Žale Central Cemetery covers 375,000 m² in Ljubljana's Bežigrad District, divided by Tomačevo Street into sections A, B and C to the east and section D (Nove Žale) to the west. The Plečnik Žale complex, with its monumental arch and small chapels, serves pre-burial ceremonies rather than graves. Paths of interlocking grey blocks and fan-laid cobblestones run between rows of low slabs and upright headstones, some marked JANŠOV and JANKOVIČ.

Opened in 1906 behind Holy Cross Church, Žale held its first burial on 3 May 1906, when the priest Martin Malenšek was moved there from the old Navje cemetery. Jews and Muslims were only allowed inside the walls in 1923, and the B part with the Italian military cemetery and a fenced Jewish section opened in 1931. Jože Plečnik took over the funeral complex in 1936, and the cemetery was renamed Žale after the Church was expropriated in 1946.

The cemetery's name comes from the Plečnik-designed funeral complex, whose name spread to the whole grounds after World War II. About 2,000 prominent people are buried here, including poet Oton Župančič, writer Ivan Cankar, painter Rihard Jakopič and architect Jože Plečnik himself. The Jewish section, fenced off in 1931, and the Italian military cemetery, later left as a monument, recall the cemetery's multi-confessional past.

The cemetery lies in Bežigrad, northeast of central Ljubljana, split by Tomačevo Street: sections A, B and C are east of the road, section D (Nove Žale) west of it. Plečnik Žale, the fifth part, is not used for burials but for ceremonies. The whole area covers 375,000 m², so allow time to walk between parts.

Plečnik's Žale, the ceremonial part of the cemetery, was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in August 2021 as part of Plečnik's legacy. It is not used for burials but for pre-burial ceremonies. The site contains the Ossuary of World War I Victims, built by Edvard Ravnikar in 1939, where 5,258 victims were reburied.