Coal findings changed life

The first mentioned of the community stems from the year 1448. Swampy meadows, ditches and ponds surrounded the village at this time. This only changed with the regulation of the Schwarze Elster in the year1850. A few years later fertile coal beds we found during drilling. More and more pits were opened, railway lines built, briquette factories constructed.

Image Copyright: M.Vogt

Marga, Germany's first garden town

To bind miners long-term to thebusiness the company decided to built a workers' village.
The Ilse-welfare-society called for tender and the architecture competition was won by the Dresden architect von Mayenburg.
After his plans ahousing area in late Art Nouveau style was built.
Von Mayenburg selected a spiral-formed layout asreminiscent to the Roman ideal city.

Exceptional infrastructure

In 1907 the first miners moved into the completed houses. Three years later the market was developed and when the church was inaugurated in 1914, nearly all building projects were completed. Around the market representative buildings with appealing architecture were constructed. Some of those are the hotel 'Kaiserkrone', the old store and the school.

Excerpts from the chronicle from 1913

'... Every street was given its own character with the planting of special tree species; so the Victoriastraßeislinedwith maple, the Parkstraße with hawthorn and the Nordstraßewithacacia ...'