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Albrechtsburg Meißen – history
The Albrechtsburg stands with the cathedral on the castle hill above the Elbe in Meissen. It is regarded as the first palace in Germany – built for living and governing rather than for defence. From 1710 to 1863 it was home to Europe's first porcelain manufactory.
The cradle of Saxony
In 929 King Henry I founded the castle of Misni on the castle hill; from 968 there was a Margrave of Meissen, and in 1089, with Henry of Eilenburg, a Wettin became Margrave for the first time – which is why Meissen is called the “Cradle of Saxony”. From 1471 the brothers Ernest and Albert had Arnold von Westfalen build the new palace, with cell vaults and the “Großer Wendelstein”, the great spiral staircase. It has borne the name Albrechtsburg since 1676.
Porcelain instead of gold
The alchemist Johann Friedrich Böttger was supposed to make gold for Augustus the Strong – instead, together with Ehrenfried Walther von Tschirnhaus, he invented European hard-paste porcelain, documented on 15 January 1708. In 1710 Augustus founded the manufactory and moved it into the empty Albrechtsburg, where the secret was safer. The crossed swords have been used systematically as its mark since 1731.
Visiting today
Inside you'll find the Großer Wendelstein, an artful spiral staircase, the famous cell vaults and the great murals of Saxon history, painted by eleven artists from the Dresden Academy between 1873 and 1885. A HistoPad with augmented reality shows what the rooms used to look like. Right next door stands the Gothic cathedral, and down in the town the porcelain manufactory shows in its demonstration workshop how Meissen porcelain is made.
Links to other places
Before his invention, Böttger was held on the Festung Königstein in 1706 and 1707. In Dresden you'll find Meissen porcelain in the Porcelain Collection in the Zwinger and in the Fürstenzug, the Procession of Princes, made of some 23000 porcelain tiles. It was from Meissen that the Wettins' rule over Saxony began.
As of: 09/2026
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