Berlin, Leipzig, Weimar,
Dresden and Prague

DAY 10 / THURSDAY / MAY 20 STAATLICHE PORZELLAN-MANUFAKTUR MEISSEN OVERNIGHT IN BERLIN In 1470, the brilliant master-builder Arnold von Westfalen created a late gothic castle complex that was the first palatial castle of its kind in German building history. Meissen (in German it is written as Meißen) is a city with more than 1,000 years of history, known as the cradle of Saxony.   The cityscape is characterized by the Albrechtsburg,considered the first castle built in Germany. It was constructed between 1471 and 1524 in the late Gothic style.   Meissen is famous for the manufacture of porcelain, based on extensive local deposits of china clay (kaolin) and potter's clay (potter's earth). Meissen porcelain was the first high quality porcelain to be produced outside of China.   The first European porcelain was manufactured in Meissen in 1710, when the Royal Porcelain Factory was opened in the Albrechtsburg. It was moved in 1861 to the Triebisch river valley of Meissen, where the porcelain factory can still be found today. Along with porcelain, other ceramics are also manufactured.   We visit the Staatliche Porzellan-Manufaktur Meißen and then continue on to Berlin. This diminutive stoneware figure now in New York's Metropolitan Museum depicts Augustus II of Saxony, commonly known as Augustus the Strong.   A voracious collector of Asian ceramics, Augustus' interest in porcelain provided the impetus for the founding of the Meissen factory just outside of Dresden, the capital of Saxony.   Augustus remained the driving force behind the factory until his death in 1733, acquiring vast quantities of the wares and figures produced by Europe's first true porcelain factory. German and Austrian Porcelain in the Eighteenth Century

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