The name Meissen is closely related to the famous Meissen porcelain, but hardly anybody knows where the town Meissen is located.

Meissen is located in Saxony northwest of  Dresden on the Elbe river and the town is more than 1000 years old.

Castle and Cathedral © flickr/martinroell

The town’s landmark is the Albrechtsburg which is the oldest German castle built from 1471 to 1524. Since 1881 the castle has been home of a museum.

Next to the castle visitors can see Meissen Cathedral, built from 1250 to 1400, with its characteristic steeples. One of them wasn’t finished until 1908.
In the Cathedral there are seven statues by the so called Naumburger Meister. Naumburger Meister is the replacement for the name of an artist who had lived in the 13th century and who is now unknown. Visitors can also see an altar triptych made by Lukas Cranach the Elder.

In the Church of our Lady in Meissen the first tuneable chime of porcelain bells in the world was installed. You can hear it several times each day.

The Albrechtsburg castle is not only the town’s landmark but also the place where the Porcelain Manufacture was established in 1810.
The first high quality porcelain outside of China was more or less produced accidentally.
After the alchemist Johann Friedrich Böttger had claimed to be able to produce gold out of less valuable materials, the Elector August the Strong kept him in custody to produce gold. As to be expected he was not successful but together with Ehrenfried Walther von Tschirnhaus he managed to make porcelain.
And the porcelain wasn’t less profitable for August the Strong as everybody in Europe wanted to have it.

Until October 31st, 2010 there will be a porcelain exhibition in Albrechtsburg Castle called: “Der Stein der Weis(s)en – 300 Jahre Mythos Manufaktur Meissen: Die Albrechtsburg als Porzellanschloss.“.
Visitors can also see magnificent pieces of 300 years of Meissen porcelain in the show rooms of the Meissen Porcelain Manufacture in Talstrasse 9 in Meissen.