Meissen Cathedral or the Church of St John and St Donatus () is a Gothic church in

Meissen Meissen ( ), is a town of approximately 30,000 about northwest of Dresden and 75 km (46 mi) west of Bautzen on both banks of the Elbe river in the Free State of Saxony, in eastern Germany. Meissen is the home of Meissen porcelain, th ...

Saxony Saxony, officially the Free State of Saxony, is a landlocked state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia, and Bavaria, as well as the countries of Poland and the Czech Republic. Its capital is Dresden, and ...

. It is situated on the castle hill of Meissen, adjacent to the Albrechtsburg castle and forms a critical centrepiece of the iconic Meissen skyline overlooking the

River Elbe The Elbe ( ; ; or ''Elv''; Upper Sorbian, Upper and , ) 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 Republic), then Ge ...

in the valley below.

History

It was the episcopal see of the Bishopric of Meissen established by Emperor Otto I in 968. It replaced an older Romanesque church. The present-day

hall church A hall church is a Church (building), church with a nave and aisles of approximately equal height. In England, Flanders and the Netherlands, it is covered by parallel roofs, typically, one for each vessel, whereas in Germany there is often one s ...

was built between 1260 and 1410, the interior features Gothic sculptures of founder Emperor Otto and his wife

Adelaide of Italy Adelaide of Italy (; 931 – 16 December 999 AD), also called Adelaide of Burgundy, was Holy Roman Empress by marriage to Emperor Otto the Great. She was crowned with him by Pope John XII in Rome on 2 February 962. She was the first empress des ...

as well as paintings from the studio of

Lucas Cranach the Elder Lucas Cranach the Elder ( ; – 16 October 1553) was a German Renaissance painter and printmaker in woodcut and engraving. He was court painter to the Electors of Saxony for most of his career, and is known for his portraits, both of German ...

. The first Saxon elector from the

House of Wettin The House of Wettin () was a dynasty which included Saxon monarch, kings, Prince Elector, prince-electors, dukes, and counts, who once ruled territories in the present-day German federated states of Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia. The dynas ...

, Margrave Frederick I, had the Prince's Chapel erected in 1425 as the burial place of his dynasty. The twin steeples were not attached until 1909. In 1581 the Meissen diocese was dissolved in the course of the

Protestant Reformation The Reformation, also known as the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation, was a time of major theological movement in Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the papacy and ...

, and the church was used by the Protestant Church since. It is the cathedral church of the Evangelical-Lutheran Church of Saxony. The pulpit is located relatively centrally, accessed from the north aisle. The unusual design (with a door preventing public access) dates from 1591. The church is divided into three sections: the inner church and choir stalls, containing a fine Flemish altarpiece; the main nave (of enormous height and in the Perpendicular style, which contains a further altarpiece by Lucas Cranach; and to the west the Prince's Chapel, which as a magnificent portal separating from the main church. The latter contains the kings and queens of

. The pair of 81 metre high Neo-Gothic spires, critical to the Meissen skyline, were actually only added 1903 to 1909. They were designed by Carl Schäfer. File:The altarpiece of Meissen Cathedral.jpg, The altarpiece (eastern section) File:Cranach altarpiece, Meissen Cathedral.jpg, Cranach altarpiece File:Main interior, Meissen Cathedral.jpg File:Portal to the Princes Chapel, Meissen Cathedral.jpg, Portal to the Princes Chapel

Burials

;in the Prince's Chapel *

Frederick I, Elector of Saxony Frederick I, the Belligerent or the Warlike (; 11 April 1370 – 4 January 1428), a member of the House of Wettin, ruled as List of margraves of Meissen, Margrave of Meissen from 1407 and List of rulers of Saxony, Elector of Saxony (as Fred ...

* Catherine of Brunswick-Lüneburg *

Frederick II, Elector of Saxony Frederick II, The Gentle (''Friedrich, der Sanftmütige''; Frederick the Gentle; 22 August 1412 – 7 September 1464) was Elector of Saxony (1428–1464) and was Landgrave of Thuringia (1440–1445). Biography Frederick was born in Leipzig, th ...

* Ernst, Elector of Saxony * Albrecht III, Duke of Saxony * Sidonie of Poděbrady * John, Hereditary Prince of Saxony *

Anna of Saxony Anna of Saxony (23 December 1544 – 18 December 1577) was the heiress of Maurice, Elector of Saxony, and Agnes, eldest daughter of Philip I, Landgrave of Hesse. Maurice's only son, Albert, died in infancy. Anna was the second wife of Willia ...

( unmarked grave) ;Others *Bishop Benno of Meissen * George, Duke of Saxony also known as George the Bearded (in the purpose-built Georgskapelle to the south-west) and his wife Barbara Jagiellon *Barthel Lauterbach *Christoph Ziegler

References

External links

Cathedral homepage
Meissen Buildings and structures in Meissen (district) Lutheran cathedrals in Germany

Pre-Reformation Roman Catholic cathedrals Burial sites of the House of Wettin {{Germany-Lutheran-church-stub