Rastlinjak, Ljubljana Botanical Garden

Ljubljana's botanical garden dates from 1810, the era of the Illyrian Provinces: a decree issued by Marshal Marmont on 4 July 1810 granted the professor of botany Franc Hladnik a plot near the Gruber Canal, where he had planted several hundred species by September. For more than a century the garden had no display glasshouse; as late as 1928 its potted plants were overwintered in cold frames and a single heated bed.

After the Second World War, under the directorship of Jože Lazar (1945–1967), the garden received about 160 ares of additional land in 1946, bringing it to 2.35 hectares. In 1955 a glasshouse was completed and planted. Its design had an unusual origin: it was a seminar project produced in Professor Jože Plečnik's class by a student, Boris Gaberščik, who later earned a doctorate. According to the garden's history, Plečnik told him that on that day they would do something for the plants. Laboratories were built at around the same time.

During the extensive renovation campaign of 1997–2006, this glasshouse was the only structure not thoroughly overhauled, because of a succession of plans that never materialised. The garden was declared a cultural monument of national importance in 2008, and on 10 December 2010 it opened a new tropical glasshouse measuring 36 by 15 metres. According to the garden's website, the "old glasshouse" was then refurbished in 2013 together with the City of Ljubljana and opened to the public.

The 1955 glasshouse is deliberately plain. It leans against an existing building on its east- and south-facing side to catch as much sun as possible, and because one side rests against the house, heat loss is reduced. It is therefore a lean-to rather than a free-standing pavilion. Its interest lies less in engineering than in its lineage: a student exercise carried out under the eye of Jože Plečnik.

The garden describes this glasshouse as home mainly to tropical species that need high air humidity and fairly constant temperatures throughout the year. It complements the garden's other units: an arboretum, a systematic section arranged by family (about 80 of them), pools for aquatic and marsh plants, a rock garden of alpine and Karst flora, Mediterranean plants grown in large containers and, since 2010, the large tropical glasshouse, with more than 340 plants including Victoria amazonica, cacao, coffee and a Howea forsteriana palm weighing over two tonnes.

The garden lies south of Ljubljana's centre, near the Gruber Canal, at Ižanska cesta 15. The small 1955 glasshouse is encountered on a walk through this 2.35-hectare garden, itself a listed cultural monument; allow one to two hours for the whole site, including the tropical glasshouse. The garden offers guided tours. A visit can be extended to Tivoli Park, where the glasshouse run by the garden since 2009 displays carnivorous plants, pineapple and vanilla.