Porcelain in Dresden and Meißen

Celebrating 300 Years of Meissen Porcelain Manufacturing in Europe

Sep 7, 2007 Henk Bekker

The name Meissen and its blue crossed-swords trademark are synonymous with high-quality porcelain as befits the company that initiated porcelain production in Europe.

“Produce Gold, Böttger!”

In the early 18th century, Johann Friedrich Böttger fled for his life from Prussia after failing to perfect the alchemist dream of producing gold. August the Strong, King of Poland and Prince Elector of Saxony, was quick to arrest Böttger, refused to extradite him to the Prussian king, and imprisoned him with the order to produce gold, or else…

First Porcelain Produced in Dresden

Böttger of course failed but on January 15, 1708, he managed to produce the first hard porcelain in Europe. (His colleague Ehrenfried Walther von Tschirnhaus, who died the same year, was probably the actual inventor.) In 1709, Böttger succeeded in producing white porcelain in Dresden and in 1710 full-scale production started in the Albrechtsburg Castle in nearby Meißen. (In contrast to the town name, the porcelain uses a regular double “ss”.) In order to keep the secrets of porcelain production, workers were at times virtually kept prisoner in the castle. However, they soon enough sold the production secret – Vienna porcelain was available less than a decade later and soon after French, Russian, and endless German porcelains were produced in Europe to compete with imported porcelain from China and Japan.

For many, producing porcelain instead of gold would have been failure. For Böttger it was a triumph. Not only did he break the Asian monopoly on producing porcelain, which was in high demand in Europe, but furthermore, his sponsor (and jailor) was an absolute porcelain fanatic. Augustus once exchanged 600 Saxon dragoons (soldiers) for large blue-and-white porcelain vases (and a few smaller pieces, 151 in total) owned by Prussian King Friedrich Wilhelm I and spent much of his income from the Meissen porcelain production on buying more Asian porcelain. His collection came close to 15,000 pieces – many of these antique porcelain works are on display in the Porzellansammlung (Porcelain Collection) in the Zwinger in Dresden.

300 Years of Meissen Porcelain

The three years from the discovery to the actual commercial production of porcelain provide the perfect excuse for Dresden and Meissen to arrange a three-year celebrations program – “300 Years of Meissen Porcelain”. The principal venues have excellent permanent porcelain exhibitions but will add special displays and events during these memorial years.

Porzellansammlung (Porcelain Collection) in the Zwinger, Dresden

Foremost venue is the Porzellansammlung (Porcelain Collection) in the Zwinger museum complex in Dresden. It is the largest porcelain museum in the world with over 20,000 pieces including around 8,000 made by Meissen. Around 2,000 porcelain pieces, including plates, cups, figurines, and the famous Dragoon Vases are on permanent display. A Meissen-porcelain Glockenspiel (carillon) plays in the gate tower outside the museum.

Meissen Factory, Meißen

The Staatliche Porzellan-Manufaktur Meissen, Talstraße 9, Meißen, is the producer of Meissen porcelain and the on-site museum has more than 20,000 pieces. The composition of the display of around 3,000 pieces is changed every year. A demonstration workshop, but not the actual manufacturing plant, can be visited with audio guides available in numerous languages.

Albrechtsburg, Meißen

Meissen porcelain was produced in the Late Gothic Albrechtsburg Castle, Meißen, from 1710 to 1865. The museum has a permanent exhibition on Böttger and his unsuccessful attempt to produce gold as well as the role of the castle in the manufacturing of porcelain. However, very little actual porcelain is seen in the permanent displays.

Sächsische Porzellan-Manufaktur Dresden

Less famous, and with a history of only 135 years, is the Sächsische Porzellan-Manufaktur Dresden (Saxon Porcelain Manufactory), Carl-Thieme-Straße 16, Freital, near Dresden. It uses the S&P Dresden porcelain trademark and prices are generally much lower than the more famous Meissen Porcelain. Factory tours are available.

Full details on the “300 Years of Meissen Porcelain” program, which includes special exhibitions, lectures, and even gourmet dinners served on historic porcelain, are available from the Dresden Tourism Office.

Various non-stop flights to Dresden Airport are available from German and European cities. Several other interesting sights including Meißen, Schloss Moritzburg Castle, the Saxon Switzerland area, as well as Festung Königstein Fortress are all within easy reach of Dresden when using public transportation.

The copyright of the article Porcelain in Dresden and Meißen in W Europe Travel is owned by Henk Bekker. Permission to republish Porcelain in Dresden and Meißen in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

Dresden, Zwinger: a superb porcelain collection	Dresden, Zwinger: a superb porcelain collection	Dresden, Zwinger: Meissen porcelain Glockenspiel
Meissen's crossed-sword trademark	Meissen is used in the factory restaurant