diff --git a/deegree-core/deegree-core-style/src/main/java/org/deegree/style/se/parser/GraphicSymbologyParser.java b/deegree-core/deegree-core-style/src/main/java/org/deegree/style/se/parser/GraphicSymbologyParser.java
index 31579bd5fc..6e4c575ffd 100644
--- a/deegree-core/deegree-core-style/src/main/java/org/deegree/style/se/parser/GraphicSymbologyParser.java
+++ b/deegree-core/deegree-core-style/src/main/java/org/deegree/style/se/parser/GraphicSymbologyParser.java
@@ -70,7 +70,9 @@ Occam Labs UG (haftungsbeschränkt)
 import javax.xml.stream.XMLStreamException;
 import javax.xml.stream.XMLStreamReader;
 
+import org.apache.batik.transcoder.TranscoderException;
 import org.apache.commons.codec.binary.Base64;
+import org.apache.xerces.parsers.SAXParser;
 import org.deegree.commons.utils.Pair;
 import org.deegree.commons.utils.Triple;
 import org.deegree.feature.Feature;
@@ -83,6 +85,8 @@ Occam Labs UG (haftungsbeschränkt)
 import org.deegree.style.styling.components.Mark.SimpleMark;
 import org.deegree.style.styling.components.Stroke;
 import org.deegree.style.utils.ShapeHelper;
+import org.deegree.style.utils.SvgImageTranscoder;
+import org.deegree.style.utils.SvgImageTranscoder.SvgImageOutput;
 import org.slf4j.Logger;
 
 /**
@@ -372,6 +376,17 @@ private Triple<BufferedImage, String, Continuation<List<Pair<BufferedImage, Stri
             if ( pair != null ) {
                 if ( pair.first != null && format != null && ( format.toLowerCase().indexOf( "svg" ) == -1 ) ) {
                     img = ImageIO.read( pair.first );
+                } else if ( pair.first != null && format != null && ( format.toLowerCase().indexOf( "svg" ) != -1 ) ) {
+                    try {
+                        SvgImageTranscoder trans = new SvgImageTranscoder();
+                        SvgImageOutput tcOutput = trans.createOutput();
+                        trans.setXmlParserClass(SAXParser.class.getName() );
+                        trans.transcode( pair.first, pair.second, tcOutput );
+                        img = tcOutput.getBufferedImage();
+                    } catch ( TranscoderException te ) {
+                        LOG.warn( "Failed reading external SVG-Graphic: {}", te.getMessage() );
+                        LOG.trace("TranscoderException", te);
+                    }
                 }
                 url = pair.second;
 
diff --git a/deegree-core/deegree-core-style/src/main/java/org/deegree/style/utils/SvgImageTranscoder.java b/deegree-core/deegree-core-style/src/main/java/org/deegree/style/utils/SvgImageTranscoder.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..abe2d54b33
--- /dev/null
+++ b/deegree-core/deegree-core-style/src/main/java/org/deegree/style/utils/SvgImageTranscoder.java
@@ -0,0 +1,111 @@
+/*----------------------------------------------------------------------------
+ This file is part of deegree, http://deegree.org/
+ Copyright (C) 2001-2010 by:
+ - Department of Geography, University of Bonn -
+ and
+ - lat/lon GmbH -
+ and
+ - grit graphische Informationstechnik Beratungsgesellschaft mbH -
+
+ This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under
+ the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License as published by the Free
+ Software Foundation; either version 2.1 of the License, or (at your option)
+ any later version.
+ This library is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT
+ ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS
+ FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU Lesser General Public License for more
+ details.
+ You should have received a copy of the GNU Lesser General Public License
+ along with this library; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc.,
+ 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307 USA
+
+ Contact information:
+
+ grit graphische Informationstechnik Beratungsgesellschaft mbH
+ Landwehrstr. 143, 59368 Werne
+ Germany
+ http://www.grit.de/
+
+ lat/lon GmbH
+ Aennchenstr. 19, 53177 Bonn
+ Germany
+ http://lat-lon.de/
+
+ Department of Geography, University of Bonn
+ Prof. Dr. Klaus Greve
+ Postfach 1147, 53001 Bonn
+ Germany
+ http://www.geographie.uni-bonn.de/deegree/
+
+ e-mail: info@deegree.org
+ ----------------------------------------------------------------------------*/
+package org.deegree.style.utils;
+
+import java.awt.image.BufferedImage;
+import java.io.InputStream;
+
+import org.apache.batik.transcoder.TranscoderException;
+import org.apache.batik.transcoder.TranscoderOutput;
+import org.apache.batik.transcoder.XMLAbstractTranscoder;
+import org.apache.batik.transcoder.image.ImageTranscoder;
+import org.slf4j.Logger;
+import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
+
+public class SvgImageTranscoder extends ImageTranscoder {
+    
+    public class SvgImageOutput extends TranscoderOutput {
+
+        private BufferedImage image;
+
+        public SvgImageOutput() {
+        }
+
+        public BufferedImage getBufferedImage() {
+            return this.image;
+        }
+
+        public void setImage( BufferedImage image ) {
+            this.image = image;
+        }
+    }
+    
+    static final Logger LOG = LoggerFactory.getLogger( SvgImageTranscoder.class );
+
+    public SvgImageTranscoder() {
+        super();
+    }
+
+    public void setXmlParserClass( String clsName ) {
+        addTranscodingHint( XMLAbstractTranscoder.KEY_XML_PARSER_CLASSNAME, clsName );
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public BufferedImage createImage( int w, int h ) {
+        return new BufferedImage( w, h, BufferedImage.TYPE_INT_ARGB );
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public void writeImage( BufferedImage image, TranscoderOutput output )
+                            throws TranscoderException {
+        if ( !( output instanceof SvgImageOutput ) ) {
+            throw new TranscoderException( "TranscoderOutput has to be of type BuffferedImageOutput" );
+        }
+
+        ( (SvgImageOutput) output ).setImage( image );
+    }
+
+    public void transcode( InputStream input, String fileName, SvgImageOutput output )
+                            throws TranscoderException {
+        long ts, te;
+        ts = System.currentTimeMillis();
+
+        super.transcode( new org.apache.batik.transcoder.TranscoderInput( input ), output );
+
+        te = System.currentTimeMillis();
+        LOG.info( "Loaded svg '{}' in {} ms", fileName, ( te - ts ) );
+    }
+    
+    public SvgImageOutput createOutput() {
+        return new SvgImageOutput();
+    }
+}