def save(self, filename, encoding ='ISO-8859-1', standalone='no'):
        """
        Stores any element in a svg file (including header). 
        Calling this method only makes sense if the root element is an svg elemnt
        """
        f = codecs.open(filename, 'w', encoding)
        s = self.wrap_xml(self.getXML(), encoding, standalone)
        #s = s.replace("&", "&amp;")
        f.write(s)
        f.close()