We present the first detection of the nearby ( z=0.084 ) low-luminosity BL Lac object 1ES 1741+196 in the very high energy ( VHE : E > 100 GeV ) band . This object lies in a triplet of interacting galaxies . Early predictions had suggested 1ES 1741+196 to be , along with several other high-frequency BL Lac sources , within the reach of MAGIC detectability . Its detection by MAGIC , later confirmed by VERITAS , helps to expand the small population of known TeV BL Lacs . The source was observed with the MAGIC telescopes between 2010 April and 2011 May , collecting 46 h of good quality data . These observations led to the detection of the source at 6.0 \sigma confidence level , with a steady flux \mathrm { F } ( > 100 { GeV } ) = ( 6.4 \pm 1.7 _ { \mathrm { stat } } \pm 2.6 _ { \mathrm { syst } } % ) \cdot 10 ^ { -12 } ph cm ^ { -2 } s ^ { -1 } and a differential spectral photon index \Gamma = 2.4 \pm 0.2 _ { \mathrm { stat } } \pm 0.2 _ { \mathrm { syst } } in the range of \sim 80 GeV - 3 TeV . To study the broad-band spectral energy distribution ( SED ) simultaneous with MAGIC observations , we use KVA , Swift /UVOT and XRT , and Fermi /LAT data . One-zone synchrotron-self-Compton ( SSC ) modeling of the SED of 1ES 1741+196 suggests values for the SSC parameters that are quite common among known TeV BL Lacs except for a relatively low Doppler factor and slope of electron energy distribution . A thermal feature seen in the SED is well matched by a giant elliptical ’ s template . This appears to be the signature of thermal emission from the host galaxy , which is clearly resolved in optical observations .