Preseren square was formed at the place of a crossroad before a city gate of the medieval Ljubljana. It started to gain its current appearance in the 17th century, when the church of the Annunciation was built. It was first known as the Maria square after the church. After the 1895 Ljubljana earthquake that damaged and ruined the medieval houses, the baroque style bourgeois palaces were built at their place: the Frisch house, the Seunig house, the central pharmacy, the Urbanc house and the mayer house.

A statue of the slovene national poet France Preseren with a muse stands in the middle of the square. It was created by Ivan Zajec in 1905.