The Styrian township of Wagna is situated at the confluence of the two rivers Sulm and Mur and can truly look back on a long and turbulent history. The "Landschabrücke" is one of Austria's oldest bridge sites, where even in the Hallstatt Period (800 - 600 B.C.) a bridge was situated. And it is no coincidence that the archeological site of the excavated Roman city "Flavia Solva" lies very near.

The excavation site of the Roman city

Model of a Roman villa based on excavation results

The area was populated by Celts when the Romans founded a settlement there in about 15 A.D., which was then decreed to chartered city status in 70 A.D. by the Roman emperor Flavius Vespasian. The name "Flavia Solva" contains the name of the founder of the city, "Flavius", and the name of the river, "Sulm - Solva". The city Flavia Solva was one of the eleven Roman settlements in today's Austria, which was vested with the Roman city charter, and the only chartered Roman city in the area of today's Styria. Flavia Solva became Rome's administration capital, and the province belonging to it contained parts of middle, eastern, western and southern Styria and even a considerable part of today's Slovenia, which is why the city can be called "the Roman capital of Styria". Its houses were mostly built with bricks of calcareous sandstone from the area of today's Aflenz resulting in the development of the "Roman Caves" in this cadastral municipality of Wagna. Between the city and the temple area lay the Roman burial ground "Gräberstraße". In about 170 A.D., during the wars against the Marcomanni, Flavia Solva was pillaged, rebuilt and later -during the Migration of Nations - completely destroyed. Most of the surviving population withdrew to the surrounding hills, especially onto the Frauenberg. Starting from this hill the plain below was populated anew. In the 13th century the name Wagna appears in documents for the first time as "Wagnach" (= settlement at the ford). This settlement was probably near today´s Sulmbridge. In 1445 Wagnach contained altogether 18 "fireplaces" (= households). In 1532 the main body of the Turkish army under sultan Soliman was fleeing south along the Mur from the barded imperial knights, who were pursuing them on horseback. At the Sulmbridge in Aflenz fierce rearguard battles took place, in which the then existing village "Putzenhof" was completely destroyed. In the 16th century a noble residence was built at the Sulmbridge in Aflenz, which later became the estate of "Wagna". The former castle is now an agricultural manor. The village of Wagna was under the reign of Seckau. In 1822 it had 196 inhabitants. When in 1848 the manorial system was dissolved, the political municipality of Wagna became the area's administrative authority. 1914-1918: In World War I, under the reign of the Austrian Dual Monarchy, a camp was built for war refugees and evacuated civilians. In 1915 in January 15.000 Polish refugees arrived from Galicia. In August many families from Friaul (northern Italy), especially from Ronchi, Sagrado and Monfalcone, were brought to the camp, by November the number of refugees had risen to 21.286. The camp consisted of a housing area with huts, a hospital and two schools - so it was an altogether completely independent settlement. In the camp of Wagna nearly 3.000 people died of cholera, typhoid fever and epidemic typhus, so an Italian graveyard was built. After the breakdown of the monarchy this camp became the settlement of Wagna. 1939: German authorities built another camp, which was used as a transit camp for Germans from the Bessarabian region in South Russia and Dombrudscha in Romania, as an education center for teachers and as a detention camp. 1944-1945: The "Roman caves" housed a bombproof armament factory which produced parts of airplanes and tanks for the German Armed Forces. Also the concentration camp in Aflenz was built as a branch of the camp in Mauthausen, where in one year 600 prisoners died. After World War II the existing huts were used as a camp for German refugees from former Yugoslavia and other south-eastern European countries. Later, the huts from the former camp were replaced by new houses in Föhrenbaumstraße. In 1952 the formerly independent municipalities of Aflenz, Hasendorf, Leitring and Wagna were united to form today's town of Wagna.  In 1265 Aflenz was mentioned in documents for the first time. In 1822 it had 122 inhabitants.   In 70 A.D. there existed already a Roman hamlet (small village) in Hasendorf. In 1822 Hasendorf had 108 inhabitants.  In 1170 Leitring was mentioned in documents for the first time. Schloss Retzhof was originally a noble residence, but today it is an establishment for adult education of the Federal State of Styria and famous for housing seminars, workshops, lectures and cultural activities. In 1822 Leitring had 318 inhabitants and was thus the most populous cadastral municipality (= a municipality which, by law, belongs to another one). In 1967 Wagna became a parish. In 1969 Wagna twinned itself with Ronchi, Italy and Metlika, Slovenia. In 1984 Wagna became a market town. The coat of arms of the market town of Wagna shows a key, ears of wheat and two hands entwined in a handshake. This motive has its origin in a Roman coin and means: "that friendship is the key to harvest." Until the middle of the 1980s Wagna was a purely residential community. Since then many companies have come to Wagna and have settled along the Marburgerstraße, thus contributing efficiency, activity and performance to the community. In June 1998 the provincial government decided in favour of Wagna as the central venue for the Styrian Regional Exhibition 2004 with the subject: "The Romans in Styria". In connection with the Regional Exhibition a new regional museum will be built on the site of the former Roman city "Flavia Solva". Due to numerous measures and activities in connection with the Regional Exhibition 2004 we are certain that Wagna is going to gain in historical, cultural and touristical importance.