Albrechtsburg Albertinian line. In 1710 King Augustus II the Strong established the "Royal-Polish and Electoral-Saxon Porcelain Manufactory" ("Königlich-Polnische und Kurfürstlich-Sächsische Porzellan-Manufaktur"), which was the first European hard-paste porcelain manufacture, at the castle under the supervision of Johann Friedrich Böttger. Meissen porcelain was produced at the Albrechtsburg until manufacturing moved to its present location in 1863. Albrechtsburg The Albrechtsburg is a Late Gothic castle that dominates the town centre of Meissen in the German state of Saxony. It stands on a hill above the river Elbe, adjacent to the Meissen Cathedral. In 929 King Henry I of Germany subdued the Slavic Glomacze
Meissen porcelain eventually numbered more than a thousand pieces. At the end of World War II, the pieces of the Swan Service were scattered amongst collectors and museums. Yet, with the moulds still available, the pattern continues to be made today. The Blue Onion pattern (in fact copying Chinese pomegranates) has been in production for close to three centuries. It was effectively designed by Höroldt in 1739 and is probably inspired by a Chinese bowl from the Kangxi period. Widely popular, the pattern has been copied extensively by over sixty companies; some of those competitors have even used the word "Meissen" as