Albrechtsburg: It was the first German palace, begu...

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1471

It was the first German palace, begun in 1471

The Albrechtsburg is a Late Gothic castle erected from 1471 till about 1495. The brothers Ernst and Albrecht, who ruled Saxony and Thuringia together, commissioned the master builder Arnold von Westfalen in 1471 to build the first German palace on the site of the old margravial castle.

Divided

Brothers split their lands before it was finished, so it never became a court

Albrechtsburg Castle never actually became a centre of the Wettin court. While construction was still in progress, the builders agreed in 1485 on a division of their territory, and the joint government of the two brothers was abolished. The castle was christened Albrechtsburg in 1676.

White gold

In 1710 Europe's first porcelain factory opened inside the empty castle

Augustus II the Strong set up the Meissen porcelain manufactory in the castle in 1710. Two years earlier Johann Friedrich Böttger and Ehrenfried Walther von Tschirnhaus had invented European porcelain. On 6 June 1710 the manufactory began operations, producing what came to be called white gold.

A secret

It was chosen because it was isolated and the secret was safe

At first Dresden was intended to be the site for the manufactory, but Augustus the Strong chose the empty castle, isolated by its location, because nowhere else would the secret of porcelain production have been so certain.

Opened up

Between 1864 and 1870 the castle was rebuilt and later opened to visitors

In the middle of the 19th century the manufactory moved to a newly built factory, and the castle stood empty again. Between 1864 and 1870 the old factory buildings were removed and the castle was rebuilt. At the end of the 19th century it was made accessible to the public.

Day 5, morning

Next is Meissen Cathedral.

See it in the plan

Albrechtsburg