Meissen (in German orthography: ''Meißen'', ) is a

town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an ori ...

of approximately 30,000 about northwest of

Dresden Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label=Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth larg ...

on both banks of the

Elbe The Elbe (; cs, Labe ; nds, Ilv or ''Elv''; Upper and dsb, Łobjo) is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Giant Mountains of the northern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia (western half of the Czech Repu ...

river in the

Free State of Saxony Free may refer to: Concept * Freedom, having the ability to do something, without having to obey anyone/anything * Freethought, a position that beliefs should be formed only on the basis of logic, reason, and empiricism * Emancipate, to procure ...

, in eastern

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. Meissen is the home of Meissen porcelain, the Albrechtsburg castle, the

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

Meissen Cathedral and the Meissen Frauenkirche. The ''

Große Kreisstadt ''Große Kreisstadt'' (, "major district town") is a term in the municipal law ('' Gemeindeordnung'') of several German states. In some federal states the term is used as a special legal status for a district-affiliated town—as distinct from an ...

'' is the capital of the Meissen district.

Names

* german: Meißen * french: Meissen, ou, selon l'orthographe allemande: ''Meißen''; en français suranné: ''Misnie'' * la, Misnia, Misena, Misnensium * pl, Miśnia * cs, Míšeň * hsb, Mišno * dsb, Mišnjo * zh, 迈森 (

pinyin Hanyu Pinyin (), often shortened to just pinyin, is the official romanization system for Standard Mandarin Chinese in China, and to some extent, in Singapore and Malaysia. It is often used to teach Mandarin, normally written in Chinese for ...

: )

History

Meissen is sometimes known as the "cradle of Saxony". It grew out of the early West Slavic settlement of ''Misni'' inhabited by Glomatians and was founded as a German town by King

Henry the Fowler Henry the Fowler (german: Heinrich der Vogler or '; la, Henricus Auceps) (c. 876 – 2 July 936) was the Duke of Saxony from 912 and the King of East Francia from 919 until his death in 936. As the first non-Frankish king of East Francia, he ...

in 929. In 968, the

Diocese of Meissen In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associat ...

was founded, and Meissen became the

episcopal see An episcopal see is, in a practical use of the phrase, the area of a bishop's ecclesiastical jurisdiction. Phrases concerning actions occurring within or outside an episcopal see are indicative of the geographical significance of the term, mak ...

of a

bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...

. The Catholic bishopric was suppressed in 1581 after the diocese accepted the

Protestant Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...

(1559), but re-created in 1921 with its seat first at Bautzen and now at the

Katholische Hofkirche Dresden Cathedral, or the Cathedral of the Holy Trinity, Dresden, previously the Catholic Church of the Royal Court of Saxony, called in German Katholische Hofkirche and since 1980 also known as Kathedrale Sanctissimae Trinitatis, is the Catholi ...

in Dresden. In 965, the

Margraviate of Meissen The Margravate of Meissen (german: Markgrafschaft Meißen) was a medieval principality in the area of the modern German state of Saxony. It originally was a frontier march In medieval Europe, a march or mark was, in broad terms, any kind of bor ...

, a frontier march of the

Holy Roman Empire The Holy Roman Empire was a Polity, political entity in Western Europe, Western, Central Europe, Central, and Southern Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its Dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire, dissolution i ...

, was founded, with Meissen as its capital. A

market town A market town is a settlement most common in Europe that obtained by custom or royal charter, in the Middle Ages, a market right, which allowed it to host a regular market; this distinguished it from a village or city. In Britain, small rural ...

by 1000, Meissen passed to the

Duchy of Poland Civitas Schinesghe () is the first recorded name related to Poland as a political entity (the name is a Latinization of or , "ducal gords") first attested in 991/2. The original deed is missing, but is mentioned in an 11th-century papal regest ...

in 1002 under Boleslaw I the Brave, afterwards into hands of Henry II a few months later and to the

House of Wettin The House of Wettin () is a dynasty of German kings, prince-electors, dukes, and counts that once ruled territories in the present-day German states of Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia. The dynasty is one of the oldest in Europe, and its ori ...

in 1089. In 1015, Meissen was besieged by the Poles led by future King Mieszko II. In 1241, the town was attacked in the

Mongol raid on Meissen Mongol incursions in the Holy Roman Empire took place in the spring of 1241 and again in the winter of 1241–42. They were part of the first Mongol invasion of Europe. The Mongols did not advance far into the Holy Roman Empire and there was no ...

. The small Mongol force under Orda Khan defeated Meissens's defenders and much of the town was destroyed. The Mongols withdrew from Germany after the death of

Ögedei Khan Ögedei Khagan (also Ogodei;, Mongolian: ''Ögedei'', ''Ögüdei''; – 11 December 1241) was second khagan-emperor of the Mongol Empire. The third son of Genghis Khan, he continued the expansion of the empire that his father had begun. ...

, sparing the region from further destruction. The town was at the forefront of the

Ostsiedlung (, literally "East-settling") is the term for the Early Medieval and High Medieval migration-period when ethnic Germans moved into the territories in the eastern part of Francia, East Francia, and the Holy Roman Empire (that Germans had al ...

, or intensive German settlement of the rural Slavic lands east of the Elbe, and its reception of

town rights Town privileges or borough rights were important features of European towns during most of the second millennium. The city law customary in Central Europe probably dates back to Italian models, which in turn were oriented towards the tradition ...

dates to 1332. The construction of Meissen Cathedral was begun in 1260 on the same hill as the Albrechtsburg castle. The resulting lack of space led to the cathedral being one of the smallest

cathedral A cathedral is a church that contains the '' cathedra'' () of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denomination ...

s in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

. The church is also known as being one of the purest examples of Gothic architecture. In 1423, Meissen became capital of the

Electorate of Saxony The Electorate of Saxony, also known as Electoral Saxony (German: or ), was a territory of the Holy Roman Empire from 1356–1806. It was centered around the cities of Dresden, Leipzig and Chemnitz. In the Golden Bull of 1356, Emperor Charles ...

. In 1464, the capital was moved to

. In 1759, the Austrians defeated the Prussians at the

Battle of Meissen The Battle of Meissen (4 December 1759) was an Austrian victory over a smaller Prussian force during the Third Silesian War (part of the Seven Years' War). An Austrian force under the command of general Beck assaulted 3,500 Prussian troops under D ...

. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, a subcamp of Flossenbürg concentration camp was located in Meissen. Meissen served as an important place of religious dialogue in 1988 when the agreement on mutual recognition between the German Evangelical Church (both East and West German) and the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...

was signed in the town in 1988.

Porcelain

Meissen is famous for the manufacture of porcelain, based on extensive local deposits of china clay (

kaolin Kaolinite ( ) is a clay mineral, with the chemical composition Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4. It is an important industrial mineral. It is a layered silicate mineral, with one tetrahedral sheet of silica () linked through oxygen atoms to one octahedral ...

) and potter's clay (potter's earth). Meissen porcelain was the first high-quality porcelain to be produced outside of

the Orient The Orient is a term for the East in relation to Europe, traditionally comprising anything belonging to the Eastern world. It is the antonym of ''Occident'', the Western World. In English, it is largely a metonym for, and coterminous with, the ...

. The first European porcelain was manufactured in Meissen in 1710, when by decree of King Augustus II the Strong the Royal-Polish and Electoral-Saxon Porcelain Factory (''Königlich-Polnische und Kurfürstlich-Sächsische Porzellan-Manufaktur'') was opened in the Albrechtsburg. In 1861, it was moved to the ''Triebisch'' river valley of Meissen, where the porcelain factory can still be found today. Along with porcelain, other ceramics are also manufactured in the town. In the old town streets, there have been set up numerous porcelain stores, often selling antique Meissen porcelain and sometimes offering repair of broken porcelain. In Meissen and the surrounding area, several former painters from the manufacturer have set up porcelain painting workshops and galleries with their own pieces of porcelain art.

Main sights

Hohlweg from the bridge to Meissen Castle

The Albrechtsburg, the former residence of the

, is regarded as being the first castle to be used as a royal residence in the German-speaking world. Built between 1472 and 1525, it is a fine example of late Gothic style. It was redecorated in the 19th century with a range of murals depicting Saxon history. Today the castle is a museum. Nearby is the 13th-century Gothic Meissen Cathedral (''Meißner Dom''), whose chapel is one of the most famous burial places of the Wettin family. The hill on which the castle and the cathedral are built offers a view over the roofs of the old town. Meissen's historical district is located mostly around the market at the foot of the castle hill. It contains many buildings of

Renaissance architecture Renaissance architecture is the European architecture of the period between the early 15th and early 16th centuries in different regions, demonstrating a conscious revival and development of certain elements of Ancient Greece, ancient Greek and ...

. Also imposing is the view from the 57-metre-high tower of the ''Frauenkirche'' (Church of Our Lady), situated in the old market-place. This church, not to be confused with the Dresden Frauenkirche, was first mentioned in a 1205 deed issued by Bishop Dietrich II and after a blaze about 1450 rebuilt in the Late Gothic style of a hall church. Its tower hosts the world's first porcelain carillon, manufactured in 1929 on the occasion of the town's 1000-years-jubilee. Another popular tourist sight is the world-famous Meissen porcelain factory. From spring to autumn, several festivals take place in Meissen, such as the

pottery Pottery is the process and the products of forming vessels and other objects with clay and other ceramic materials, which are fired at high temperatures to give them a hard and durable form. Major types include earthenware, stoneware and por ...

market or the ''Weinfest'', which celebrates the

wine Wine is an alcoholic drink typically made from fermented grapes. Yeast consumes the sugar in the grapes and converts it to ethanol and carbon dioxide, releasing heat in the process. Different varieties of grapes and strains of yeasts are m ...

harvest. Meissen wine is produced at the

vineyard A vineyard (; also ) is a plantation of grape-bearing vines, grown mainly for winemaking, but also raisins, table grapes and non-alcoholic grape juice. The science, practice and study of vineyard production is known as viticulture. Vineyards ...

s in the river valley (''Elbtal'') around the town, part of the Saxonian wine region, one of the northernmost in Europe.

Educational institutions

Meissen is the home of the Saxon public elite college

Sächsisches Landesgymnasium Sankt Afra zu Meißen Sächsisches Landesgymnasium Sankt Afra zu Meißen is a boarding school for highly gifted students in the German city of Meissen, Saxony. Founded in 1543 as ''Fürstliche Landesschule'' and re-established in 2001, the stated aim of the school is ...

. Also the Saxon Civil Servants Academy and the Academy of the Evangelical Church of Saxony are located in the town.

Notable people

* Saint Benno (c. 1010–1106), Bishop of Meissen *

Adam of Bremen Adam of Bremen ( la, Adamus Bremensis; german: Adam von Bremen) (before 1050 – 12 October 1081/1085) was a German medieval chronicler. He lived and worked in the second half of the eleventh century. Adam is most famous for his chronicle ''Gesta ...

(before 1050 – 1081/1085), medieval chronicler *

Heinrich Frauenlob Heinrich Frauenlob (between 1250 and 1260 – 29 November 1318), sometimes known as Henry of Meissen (''Heinrich von Meißen''), was a Middle High German poet, a representative of both the '' Sangspruchdichtung'' and ''Minnesang'' genres. He was o ...

(1250/60–1318), poet * Anna of Saxony, Landgravine of Hesse (1420–1462) * Heinrich von Sachsen (1422–1435), Margrave of Meissen and Duke of Saxony *

Johann Klaj Johann Klaj (Latinized Clajus) (161616 February 1656) was a German poet. He was born at Meissen in Saxony. After studying theology at University of Leipzig, Wittenberg, he went to Nuremberg as a "candidate for holy orders," and there, in conjun ...

(1616–1656), poet * Johann Elias Schlegel (1719–1749), critic and poet * Johann Adolf Schlegel (1721–1793), poet and clergyman * Samuel Hahnemann (1755–1843), physician and founder of

Homoeopathy Homeopathy or homoeopathy is a pseudoscientific system of alternative medicine. It was conceived in 1796 by the German physician Samuel Hahnemann. Its practitioners, called homeopaths, believe that a substance that causes symptoms of a dise ...

Louise Otto-Peters Louise Otto-Peters (26 March 1819, Meissen – 13 March 1895, Leipzig) was a German suffragist and women's rights movement activist who wrote novels, poetry, essays, and libretti. She wrote for ''Der Wandelstern'' he Wandering Starand ''Sächsisc ...

(1819–1895), suffragist and women's rights movement activist *

Karl G. Maeser Karl Gottfried Maeser (January 16, 1828 – February 15, 1901) was a prominent Utah educator and a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). He served 16 years as principal of Brigham Young Academy. Although h ...

(1828–1901), Mormon academic *

Erich Naumann Erich Naumann (29 April 1905 – 7 June 1951) was an SS-Brigadeführer, member of the SD, and a convicted war criminal. Naumann had a key role in the Holocaust in Eastern Europe as the commander of Einsatzgruppe VI and the commander of Einsat ...

(1905–1951), Nazi SS-Brigadeführer and Einsatzgruppe commander, executed for war crimes * Hans Philipp (1917–1943), combat pilot *

Peter Schreier Peter Schreier (29 July 1935 – 25 December 2019) was a German tenor in opera, concert and lied, and a conductor. He was regarded as one of the leading lyric tenors of the 20th century. Schreier was a member of the Dresdner Kreuzchor conduct ...

(1935–2019), opera singer and conductor *

Ralf Schumann Ralf Schumann (born 10 June 1962) is a former German 25 m rapid fire pistol shooter. He is a three-time Olympic Champion and twice the World Champion. One of the most decorated shooters of the modern era, he is the first of two sport shooters to ...

(born 1962), shooter, Olympic winner * Jörg Urban (born 1964), politician (AfD) *

Stephan Matthias Lademann Stephan Matthias Lademann is a German pianist and academic teacher. Life Born in Meißen, Lademann studied at the Hochschule für Musik Carl Maria von Weber Dresden and is predominantly active as . He accompanied Diana Damrau, Edita Grubero ...

, classical pianist

Worked in the town

Kaspar Eberhard Kaspar Eberhard (21 March 1523 – 20 October 1575) was a German Lutheran theologian and teacher. He was born at Schneeberg, and died at Wittenberg. Life Bibliography * Walter Friedensburg: Geschichte der Universität Wittenberg. Max Nieme ...

(1523–1575), superintendent of Meissen 1564–1574 *

Johann Friedrich Böttger Johann Friedrich Böttger (also Böttcher or Böttiger; 4 February 1682 – 13 March 1719) was a German alchemist. Böttger was born in Schleiz and died in Dresden. He is normally credited with being the first European to discover the secret of th ...

(1682–1719), co-inventor of the European porcelain *

Johann Gregor Herold Johann Gregor Herold or Johann Gregorius Höroldt (6 August 1696, in Jena – 26 January 1775, in Meissen) was a German painter and porcelain painter. He was a key early figure in defining the styles of decoration for Meissen porcelain from 1723 ...

(1696–1775), porcelain painter and superintendent of the factory *

Johann Joachim Kändler Johann Joachim Kändler (June 15, 1706 – May 18, 1775) was a German sculptor who became the most important modeller of the Meissen porcelain manufactury, and arguably of all European porcelain. He worked at Meissen for over 40 years, fro ...

(1706–1775), porcelain modeller *

Gotthold Ephraim Lessing Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (, ; 22 January 1729 – 15 February 1781) was a philosopher, dramatist, publicist and art critic, and a representative of the Enlightenment era. His plays and theoretical writings substantially influenced the developmen ...

(1729–1781), writer, pupil of the Sächsisches Landesgymnasium * Willy Ascherl (1902–1929), footballer *Erich Schmidt (1910–2005), church musician, in 1950–1980 Domkantor in Meissen *

Hans-Ulrich Thomale Hans-Ulrich Thomale (born 6 December 1944) is a German football manager and former player. Career Thomale played as a defensive midfielder and defender for 1. FC Lokomotive Leipzig and BSG Stahl Riesa in the DDR-Oberliga The DDR-Oberliga ...

(born 1944), football player and manager * Matthias Müller (born 1954), football player and manager

Twin towns – sister cities

Meissen is twinned with: *

Vitry-sur-Seine Vitry-sur-Seine () is a commune in the southeastern suburbs of Paris, France, from the centre of Paris. Name Vitry-sur-Seine was originally called simply Vitry. The name Vitry comes from Medieval Latin ''Vitriacum'', and before that ''Victoria ...

, France (1973) *

Arita Arita may refer to: *Arita (surname) *Arita, Saga, a town in Saga Prefecture, Japan :* Arita ware, a kind of Japanese porcelain made in the area around the town * ''Arita'' (skipper), a genus of butterflies in the grass skipper family *Arita, a br ...

, Japan (1979) * Fellbach, Germany (1987) *

Litoměřice Litoměřice (; german: Leitmeritz) is a town in the Ústí nad Labem Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 23,000 inhabitants. The town centre is well preserved and is protected by law as an urban monument reservation. The town is the seat ...

, Czech Republic (1996) *

Corfu Corfu (, ) or Kerkyra ( el, Κέρκυρα, Kérkyra, , ; ; la, Corcyra.) is a Greek island in the Ionian Sea, of the Ionian Islands, and, including its small satellite islands, forms the margin of the northwestern frontier of Greece. The isl ...

, Greece (1996) * Provo, United States (2001) *

Legnica Legnica (Polish: ; german: Liegnitz, szl, Lignica, cz, Lehnice, la, Lignitium) is a city in southwestern Poland, in the central part of Lower Silesia, on the Kaczawa River (left tributary of the Oder) and the Czarna Woda (Kaczawa), Czarna Woda ...

, Poland (2017)

Citations

Bibliography

External links

Official website

{{Authority control Towns in Saxony Wine regions of Germany Meissen (district) Populated riverside places in Germany Populated places on the Elbe