The Staatliche Porzellanmanufaktur Meissen (Meissen State Porcelain Manufactory) is undoubtedly the best-known sight in Meißen. It is here, and only here, that the world-famous Meissen porcelain is produced.Porcelain was known in Europe during the 13th century but it was only from the early 17th century…Read More

The Staatliche Porzellanmanufaktur Meissen (Meissen State Porcelain Manufactory) is undoubtedly the best-known sight in Meißen. It is here, and only here, that the world-famous
Meissen porcelain is produced.

Porcelain was known in Europe during the 13th century but it was only from the early 17th century that the Dutch started to import it from China and Japan in large quantities and at great expense. European nobles paid high prices to obtain these desirable, if delicate objects. It was the dream of many Europeans to produce porcelain locally but the Asians guarded the production secrets of porcelain exceptionally well. Several European scientists were experimenting with porcelain production but it was in Saxony that the secret was finally unlocked.

Johann Friedrich Böttger, an alchemist had to flee Prussia for his life after failing to produce gold there. Arriving in Saxony, he did not do much better. He was arrested by Elector August the Strong and threatened with the noose if he failed to produce wealth. August soon accepted the Böttger would not produce gold but the race was on in Europe to find the secret of porcelain production. Unlocking its secret would be white gold, a license to print money without fearing inflation or current account deficits so to speak. In 1709, Böttger presented August with the first porcelain produced in Europe.

The next year, the Königlich-polnische und churfürstelich-sächsiche Porzellan-Manufaktur Meissen (Royal Polish and Electoral Saxon Porcelain Manufactory Meissen) was founded but it took about another decade before production could rival the Asian quality. By this time, Böttger was dead and he somewhat deservedly missed his triumph as he kept the original discovery secret for six months until his collaborator died and he could claim the honor solely. During the first decade, all scientists involved in research were kept virtual prisoner in the Albrechtsburg in Meißen to keep the secret in Saxony. However, within 10 years, the secret leaked out and competition started in Vienna and eventually all over Europe. No name would ever be more famous than Meissen.

Böttger’s successor, Johann Melchior Steinbrücke was a scientist but with a better understanding of marketing. He realized the long German name was never going to catch on nor the brand names AR (Augustus Rex) or K.P.M (Königliche Porzellan Manufaktur). He suggested that the crossed swords of the Saxon emblem be used as trademark for Meissen products – this cobalt blue trademark became the longest uninterruptedly used trademark in world history.

Meissen was produced inside the Albrechtsburg up to 1863. Ever since, the factory has been in Talstraße in the Triebisch Valley in Meißen. We followed the signs from the Markt, which led us via some unappealing back roads to our destination. En route it was possible to see some of the legacy of 40 years of communist central planning. (When on foot, from Marktplatz ignore the signboards and follow Gerbergasse leading into Neugasse and eventually Talstraße for a more appealing walk that will not take two minutes longer than the more direct route via Am Steinbreg.)

Visiting the manufactory involves two independent sections: the Schauwerkstatt (Demonstration Workshop) and the Schauhalle (Exhibition Hall). We first visited the Workshop – admission is €3. This half-hour tour is conducted via audio sets available in 12 languages. Unfortunately, nothing of the real factory is seen. The group is shepherded through four rooms. In each, a single person is working on Meissen demonstrating in turn turning and molding, embossing, under glaze painting, and over glaze painting. The tour was fairly interesting but I honestly expected a little bit more. A highlight was when one of the artists presented my two-and-a-half-year old with the head of a doll – unglazed and unsigned but Meissen nonetheless! (See it in a picture in the café review.)

With a vague idea of the value of Meissen, we entered the Exhibition Hall (€4.50) toddler in hand - the personnel politely nervous. Completely unnecessary, the parents fearing that the all-eventualities insurance limit of €100,000 per incidence might kick in kept her firmly in grip. On display are around 3,000 of the collection’s 20,000 items – the display changes annually. Naturally, a wide range plates, cups, figures, and vessels of all shapes and ages are on display. A feast for the eye of the connoisseur but for the rest of us it starts to blur long before the end. However, even a cultural philistine would be able to appreciate the 3.5-m (11.2-foot) centerpiece made for King August III in 1749. It is not only big but also beautiful. Also impressive was the table laid out for a multiple course meal for 12. Apparently, the dinner service used for this table also changes annually.

After the Exhibition Hall, we headed towards the factory shop. There is no need to look for discounts or reject items here, or anywhere else in Meißen, or in deed the world. Meissen not up to standard is destroyed and never sold. I did not see anything for less than €80 and even at that price the selection was rather limited. I was considering a delightful little elephant but my wife stubbornly refused to cancel the order for her new BMW. We thus left the shop empty handed but enjoyed eating off Meissen porcelain in the adjacent café.

Staatliche Porzellanmanufaktur Meissen (Meissen State Porcelain Manufactory)
Talstraße 9
Tel: 03521-498-208
www.meissen.de
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From the George Gate at the Castle in Dresden, along Augustusstraße at the back of the Langer Gang towards the Frauenkirche, is a 102-m long Meissen porcelain mosaic illustrating the genealogical history of the Wettiners. It is known as the Fürstenzug (Procession of the Rulers)…Read More

From the George Gate at the Castle in Dresden, along Augustusstraße at the back of the Langer Gang towards the Frauenkirche, is a 102-m long Meissen porcelain mosaic illustrating the genealogical history of the Wettiners. It is known as the Fürstenzug (Procession of the Rulers) and shows the 35 Wettiners who ruled Saxony as margraves, dukes, prince electors, and finally kings between 1123 and the forced abolition of the monarchy in 1918. It was created in 1907 on 24,000 Meissen porcelain tiles that miraculously survived the inferno of 1945.

For around 800 years, the Wettiners ruled as absolute monarchs, so the history of the family is mostly the history of Saxony. Although the mosaic shows 93 persons, only 35 were rulers and only a handful of them were of historical importance. Before we get to them, let us do the fun bit first: check out the descriptive names the earlier rulers received from the people. There is Otto the Rich, Albrecht the Proud, Friedrich the Bitten (his mother bit him in the cheek during a particularly tearful departure), Friedrich the Serious, Friedrich the Litigious, Friedrich the Generous, Johann the Steady, George the Bearded, Friedrich the Wise, Heinrich the Pious, and of course August the Strong. Moritz somehow managed to keep “the Backstabber” out of the genealogy but history certainly did not forget.

It all started of in modestly. In 1046, the margrave of Meißen died without heir. It took more than 40 years before the Wettiner Heinrich von Eilenburg managed to establish himself as new margrave. He is not seen on the mosaic as it was only in 1125 that Kaiser Heinrich IV formally gave the Wettiner Konrad the Great (1123-1156) full control of the Mark (Margrave) Meißen, a rather small territory at the eastern edges of the German realm.

During the 12th century, Meißen struck silver! The discovery of rich deposits in the Erz Mountains made out of Otto Otto the Rich and allowed the financing of territorial expansion through conquest. Marital diplomacy was even more successful – through marriage, the margrave of Meißen acquired the County Thüringen. From the 12th to 15th centuries, Meißen was on the way up. Military support to the king of Bohemia and the Holy Roman emperor saw the margraves rewarded. In 1423, the Wettiners obtained the Duchy Saxony-Wittenberg and became prince electors, i.e. one of the seven persons who elected the German king. The March Meißen became the Electoral Duchy of Saxony. The original Saxons never lived in the area of modern-day Saxony – they hailed from the modern-day German states of Lower Saxony, Thüringia, and Saxony-Anhalt.

Saxony had reached its peak. In 1485, it fell victim to the German habit of dividing territory and titles equally amongst sons. Two brothers, Ernst and Albrecht, divided the duchy. Albrecht became Margrave of Meißen and moved his residence from Meißen to Dresden. Ernst kept the title Elector of Saxony, which included Wittenberg, and established his court in Weimar. The brothers ruled in peace, but the religious division in Germany following the Lutheran Reformation created opportunities for first class treachery.

Both Saxony and Meißen eventually became Protestant but in 1547 Duke Moritz of Meißen, although at the head of a Protestant territory, betrayed his brother, Elector Johann Friedrich of Saxony, and attacked him unexpectedly from the flank to help the Roman Catholic emperor. Johann got prison, Moritz got the Electorate and the name Saxony returned permanently to the territories ruled from Dresden. Never trust a betrayer – Moritz switched sides again and was one of the leading lights in the Protestant negotiations leading up to the momentous Peace of Augsburg (1555), which granted German rulers the right to select either Lutheranism or Roman Catholicism as state religion.

Although divided and smaller than before 1485, Saxony seemed to be at the peak of its power. It was the leader of the Protestant states. However, it managed to loose this position through bad diplomacy and opportunistic side swapping during the Thirty Years’ War (1618-48). From one of the most powerful forces in Germany, Saxony managed to decline to political insignificance in less than a century.

The rule of August the Strong (1694-1733) was a golden age for Saxony and especially Dresden. He had good taste and spent lavishly on the arts and construction, especially after the discovery of the production process of porcelain brought riches to the duchy. However, he managed to reduce Saxony’s political stature even more. In 1697, he switched to Roman Catholicism to ascend to the Polish throne as King August II. Although he managed to get his son on the Polish throne too, the whole Polish adventure was a bit of a disaster. Buying the throne was expensive and he became embroiled in Nordic squabbles, expensive wars, and antagonized the Protestant population of Saxony no end.

Things did not improve in the eighteenth century. Prussia and Austria fought most of the battles of the Seven Years’ War on Saxon territory. Dresden came under Prussian artillery fire for two days. Embarrassingly, the Saxon elector and government fled to Warsaw. Saxony lost face and would never be a significant factor in German politics again.

During the Napoleonic Wars, Saxony managed to back the wrong side time and again. First, it backed Prussia and share in the devastating losses at Jena and Auerstadt. Then it switched sides and as an ally of Napoleon saw the upgrade to Kingdom of Saxony. However, the price was very high. 20,000 Saxons marched with Napoleon into Russia – only 1,000 returned. Missing the opportunity to switch sides again, although many Saxon soldiers did so, Saxony shared in the devastating defeat of Napoleon at the Battle of the Nations (Leipzig, 1813).

The King found himself in a Prussian jail and around two-thirds of Saxon territory found itself inside Prussia for good – about one third less than the Prussian king had in mind. Although things looked down for the Wettiners, things looked up for the Saxon people. The Russian Prince Repnin-Wolkonski, sent to rule Saxony as governor, opened the royal collections and gardens to the general public for free. Although the Wettiners were allowed to return to the throne, the die was cast. The people demanded more and in 1830 Saxony became a constitutional monarchy and the royal collections became national property. In 1849, revolutionaries in Dresden actively supported by Richard Wagner and Gottfried Semper, forced the king to accept Prussian help to maintain control.

One last time, the Wettiners managed to pick the wrong side. In 1866, King Johann probably knew he was backing the wrong side, but the Austrian emperor was his father-in-law after all. The Austro-Prussian war was short, the first major war in which more soldiers where shot dead rather than dying of disease, and ended with a clear victory for Prussia. Prussia gobbled up several smaller German territories in the process including the not-so-small Hanover. Saxony was a spent force but survived as a kingdom purely because Prussian Chancellor Otto von Bismarck thought it better diplomacy. (In his spare time, King Johann translated Dante into German – constitutional monarchy certainly took the pressure off!)

Thus, we reached the end of the mosaic and the end of the Wettiner reign when geographically the Kingdom of Saxony was hardly bigger than the original March Meißen. Politically, it was probably even less significant. The end was rather acrimonious – the Republic of Saxony was proclaimed on November 10, 1918 and King Friedrich August III finally abdicated two days later. His parting shot: “Macht doch euern Dreck alleene!” (Do your dirty work alone!)
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