Our villages are dying, that’s what you hear everywhere. They are losing their identities, their faces. Where proud hotels, tradition-rich inns and age-old taverns used to stand, nowadays you only gaze upon the cold and anonymous architecture of supermarkets, drugstores, and banks. This fate threatened the “Goldene Krone“ in St. Märgen in the Black Forest, too. Once a home for pilgrims to the nearby monastery, it then became a Grand Hotel for urban visitors searching for recreation, next a habitat for people seeking asylum, and finally it seemed destined for demolition. But a concerned group of citizens from St. Märgen and the surrounding area came together and saved the “Goldene Krone“. For one year now farmer’s wives have been running a café there, cooking and baking with locally and seasonally grown products. In the carefully restored art deco “Crown Room” concerts, readings, and cabarets regularly take place. St. Märgen has rediscovered its center, and mayors from other villages are flocking to St. Märgen to discover how they can save their village centers, too. This film documents the wonderful rescue of a monument, which the Historical Preservation Society of Baden-Württemberg recognized in 2005 with an award.

For more information please visit the website www.krone-st-maergen.de