Holy Heart of Jesus Church, Filial church in Ljubljana, Slovenia

The Holy Heart of Jesus Church is a Neo-Gothic Lazarist church on Tabor hill in Ljubljana, built 1881–1883. Its tall, steep gabled roof is covered with single-colour slate, a white marble Gothic turret crowns the ridge, and twelve buttresses lean against the outer walls. A high slender bell tower stands on the right side of the facade, above three large double doors of oak made by master Vincencij Hansl.

Lazarists settled in Ljubljana in 1879 after Emperor Franz Joseph I had authorised their order throughout the monarchy in 1855. Missionary Janez Kukovič initiated the church, whose foundation stone was laid on 10 May 1881 and blessed by Bishop Janez Zlatoust Pogačar. Construction began on 24 June 1881, the feast of the Sacred Heart, and the church was consecrated on 1 July 1883. Emperor Franz Joseph I visited on 13 July 1883, and a memorial plaque near the altar of the Virgin Mary commemorates the event.

The church is run by the Lazarists, who came to Ljubljana in 1879 after Emperor Franz Joseph I had allowed their order throughout the monarchy in 1855. The missionary Janez Kukovič pushed for the building. At the 1881 foundation ceremony Bishop Janez Zlatoust Pogačar asked that the church also commemorate the wedding of Crown Prince Rudolf and Archduchess Stéphanie.

The church stands on Tabor, on the right side of the facade rises a tall slender bell tower. A paved area of stone cubes and asphalt leads from the nearby park, up four steps, into the porch beneath the balcony. Twelve buttresses lean against the outer walls up to the roof edge.

The foundation stone is not under the main altar as usual but in the sacristy, because the original plans placed the main altar there. The change followed a city magistrate's demand that the Lazarists give up six ares in front of the church for a possible widening of Travniška Street, now Slomškova. The nave was shortened by one window and the presbytery turned west.