At noon on Friday 26 August 2011 Ljubljana crematorium at Žale cemetery carried out its 200,000th cremation.

The notion of building a crematorium in Ljubljana was around as early as the inter-war period and became more evident during the 1960s. Given that there was an ever-increasing number of cremations, a study was undertaken on the viability of building a crematorium in Ljubljana which estimated that within 10 years 30 – 40 % of funerals would involve cremations.

Ljubljana crematorium, which was the first in Slovenia, opened with two TABO incinerators on 26 December 1978. As early as the first year, almost 30% of the deceased in Ljubljana were cremated. After 10 years of work, around 70% of the total number of funerals involved cremations. Today in Ljubljana, about 90% of the deceased are cremated. In Slovenia as a whole, where about 70% of people are cremated, there are now two crematoria which cater for all cremation needs.

In 2001 a third incinerator for cremations was installed at Žale and a fourth in 2005, together with equipment for cooling the flue gases. This is a great asset for both the Žale public company and the citizens of the City of Ljubljana as it makes a significant economic and environmental contribution.

JP Žale, d.o.o.