Torgau - Spielwaren Carl Löbner

The place was first mentioned in a document from 973. It fell under the rule of the Holy Roman Empire, and a stone castle was built, around which the settlement congregated. A market is attested in 1119.

Torgau belonged to the duchy of Saxe-Wittenberg, which in 1356 was raised to be the Electorate of Saxony. After the last Ascanian duke died without issue in 1423, the Electorate passed to the Wettin dynasty, which took up its residence at Torgau.

After 1485 Friedrich III, Elector of Saxony and his successors had Schloss Hartenfels (Hartenfels Castle) at Torgau built. During the Reformation, the town council closed all monasteries in 1523. Citizens of Torgau destroyed paintings and statues of saints in the churches and stormed the Franciscan monastery.

"Spielwaren Carl Löbner" is the oldest toy store in Germany. The first documented mention of the shop dates back to 1685. The company has always been passed down from father to son and is currently run by the twelfth generation.

At the end of 1685 the master wood turner Christoph Loebner opened his wood turning workshop in Torgau and made wooden toys. At the time of his grandson Carl Loebner, company names were first officially registered, giving the company the name it still uses today. In 1780 Johann-George Loebner managed to build the house, which is still used today, and continued to manufacture wooden toys there, which he initially sold at the local markets and at the Leipzig Trade Fair. His initial product range included wooden dolls, drumsticks, spinning tops, skittles, whistles and billiard balls. From the sixth generation, the Loebners were pure merchants. Own production was given up.

In 2010, the family company Spielwaren Carl Loebner celebrated its 325th anniversary.

www.carl-loebner.de