Castle Albrechtsburg | Porcelain Manufactory | The Cathedral | Church of our Lady | Nikolai Church | St. Afra Church | Johannes Church | St. Martin’s Chapel | Castle Siebeneichen (Seven Oaks) | Town Hall | Heinrich’s Fountain | The Benno-House | The Cloth Makers’ Gate | Ruins of the convent "To the Holy Cross" | Brewery House |
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Castle Albrechtsburg
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The late-Gothic Albrechtsburg raises high over the pictorial Elbe valley at a rocky promontory at the left river shore. It is listed as the first castle construction of German history.
Link to the Albrechtsburg... |
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Late- Gothic Castle –Albrechtsburg
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Porcelain Manufactory
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Meissen Porcelain Manufactory
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In 1710 the Meissen Porcelain Manufactory was founded in the castle Albrechtsburg as the first of this kind in Europe. From 1863 to 1865 the manufacturing process was transferred to Meissen-Triebischtal.
Link to the Porcelain Manufactory…
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The Cathedral
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With its significant towers the Meissen Cathedral dominates the unique skyline of the town.
The construction of this purely Gothic building started in 1250. It was finished around 1400.
Link to the Cathedral (german)...
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The Cathedral
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Church of our Lady
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Tower of the Gothic Church of our Lady
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From 1460 to 1520 the Church of our Lady was built next to the market square in Meissen.
In 1929 the first tuneable chime of porcelain bells of the world was installed in the tower of this Gothic church.
Link to the Church of our Lady (german)…
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Nikolai Church
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Between 1921 and 1929 the Nikolai Church was rearranged to a memorial to the victims of World War I, which is unique in the world. Since then the largest figures which have ever been made of Meissen Porcelain belong to its interior decoration.
Link to Nikolai Church (german)…
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Look at Nikolai Church
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St. Afra Church
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St. Afra – the oldest church of Meissen
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It is the oldest church of Meissen. St. Afra is located on the castle hill and has developed from a little chapel of the canon diocese of the Augustiner in 984. There, above the city, the aristocracy and the high clergy settled in the middle ages. Their fixated houses and courtyards form the “Freiheit” (Freedom), a separate district. These habitants were indemnified from paying taxes and duties. Even today this district has a special appeal. The garden of the superintendent’s office at the “Freiheit No. 9”, an old half-timbered house of 1564, hosts a 1000 years old yew. The “Loewenportal” (Lion’s Doorway) of 1610 at the “Jahnaischen Freihof” (free-of-ground, Freiheit No.1) is one of the most beautiful portals in Meissen. On the left side of the church the elite school for non-noble students was created in 1543. Important poets and savants like Gellert, Lessing and the doctor Hahnemann visited this school. The today’s elite school is located in the school building of the foundation years.
It is accessible over the Church of our Ladies,
Freiheit No. 12
Phone: (03521) 45 38 21
Fax: (03521) 45 38 31
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Johannes Church
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The foundation stone was laid on the 17th of June 1895 and it was sainted on the 24th of October 1898. The church was constructed and built under the direction of the famous church architect Theodor Quentin from Pirna. The interior design was created by the Coellner pastor Hugo Hickmann. The Johannes Church is an example for the slowly fading Neo-Gothic style. The interior itself has already got a few features of the Art Nouveau. The church is built of Meissen granite, the altar and the pulpit are made of local pottery. The pulpit was fabricated by the Oven- and Porcelain Company Ernst Teichert. In front of the Johannes-Cemetery you can find the little historic village chapel of Coelln, which was the ancestor of the Johannes Church. It is called the St. Urban’s Church and has a beautiful Gothic altar which is worth seeing.
Information at the priest’s office
Dresdner Strasse No. 26, Phone (03521) 73 22 70
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Johannes Church in Meissen
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St. Martin’s Chapel
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Kapellenweg
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It is located on the Plossen and was first documented in 1220. On the occasion of a charity for the convent “Heiliges Kreuz” (Holy Cross) margrave Dietrich the Thronged gave them (among other things) the chapel “Sanct Marini” on the hill of Meissen. It probably was the church of the already existing barbican Siebeneichen (Seven Oaks) and a wayside chapel on the road to Dresden over Wilsdruff. In colloquial language it also has the name of the “Beggar’s Church”, because in time of the Thirty Years’ War a lot of homeless families got an emergency shelter there.
Information: look at St. Afra Church
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Castle Siebeneichen (Seven Oaks)
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The castle, built by Ernst from Miltitz around 1550, is surrounded by a park with gorgeous trees. It was arranged in the 16th century, so it counts to one of the oldest gardens in Saxony. In the past it was the centre of attraction to important representatives of the Sturm and Stress era like Novalis, Johann Gottlieb Fichte, Theodor Koerner and Heinrich von Kleist. Since 1997 it hosts the Teachers’ Academy.
At the bottom of the mountain a little home zoo is situated.
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Castle "Siebeneichen"
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Town Hall
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Late - Gothic town hall
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The late Gothic town hall is the most amazing building at the market square, next to the beautiful restored burgher’s houses of the Renaissance. Between 1470 and 1486 the town hall housed the seat of the members of the Meissen Council. Its façade has been extensively restored. The old roof that measures 13.000 m² can be admired in its old beauty. 52.000 “Rautenspitzbiber”- special roofing tiles have been reproduced by the help of broken original pieces. A special decoration are the three dormers (Zwerchhäuser), which have been restored, too. The Meissen town hall is said to be the oldest of its kind in the Saxon area. The outer restoration was finished in 2001.
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Heinrich’s Fountain
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Directly in front of the former Franziskaner- Monastery - today the Meissen-Town- Museum – there is the memorial of Heinrich I with the Heinrich’s Fountain, which was built in 1863. Heinrich I or Heinrich the Vogler was the first German king. In winter 928/929 he founded the castle “Misni” on a rock high above the valleys of Elbe, Meisa and Triebisch. Still to 1962 this fountain was provided with water from the “Roehrfahrt”. Today the water comes from the drinking water- system.
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Memorial of Heinrich I with Heinrich’s Fountain
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The Benno-House
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The ostentatious Renaissance portal
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The ostentatious Renaissance portal with its mushroom-like seats on both sides was built in 1600. Typical for that time are the clear- cut shells with the "Kaempfergesimse" above, carrying the clear- cut round arch. They are situated over the side walls. The rosettes, little angels and grimaces in the fields of the Triglyphe- Frieze made of stucco are baroque accessories. The cartouche- shaped final stone has been changed in the Rokoko- style. In the room of the first upper floor wooden crossbar-ceilings with Renaissance- paintings of the time around 1640 were laid open. The entrance hall shows a late Gothic cell- vault with Gothic wall paintings. Over the portal there is a memorial tablet which reminds of the foundation of the first voluntary fire brigade in Germany by the soap maker Friedrich August Kentzsch in 1841.
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The Cloth Makers’ Gate
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In the year 1640 the wealthy guild of cloth makers of Meissen donated an entrance gate for the city cemetery. By making cloth, immigrated Flemish craftsmen quickly reached economic importance and great reputation.
From the end of the 15th century this guild took the leading role in the city till its importance declined because of the import of English and Dutch cloth in the 18th century. The today's Cloth Makers' Gate, situated behind the Church of our Ladies, is a copy of that wonderful gate of the Renaissance. In 1994 new granite-steps were placed in the lower part of the stairways, which are connected with the house "An der Frauenkirche Nr.4".
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Cloth Makers’ Gate
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Ruins of the convent "To the Holy Cross"
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Ruin convent "To the Holy Cross"
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A bit downriver on the left side of the river Elbe is the ruin of the convent "To the Holy Cross", a former Cistercian convent from 1217. During the reformation it was dissolved and destroyed during the wars of the 17th and the 19th century. Nowadays the Meissen "Hahnemannzentrum e.V." owns the area and provides diverse offers like a herbal garden.
Link to Meissen Hahnemannzentrum e.V. (german)...
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Brewery House
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That building, which was first mentioned in 1460, is regarded as parent company of the Schwerter Brauerei. It got its impressive Renaissance facade in 1570. Right here the beer of Meissen's citizens has been brewed for many years. In the 19th century the commercial brewery came into being in the course of industrialization. Following the tradition of the old brewery, the Mühlberg'sche, later Mohnsche Brauerei, which later was aquired by the brewery owner Eduard Bahrmann, belongs to it. The building "Bahrmannsches Brauhaus" near the Frauenkirche is named after him.
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Brewery- first mentioned 1460
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