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
Porcelain and alabaster and fired at temperatures up to in a wood-fired kiln, producing a porcelain of great hardness, translucency, and strength. Later, the composition of the Meissen hard paste was changed and the alabaster was replaced by feldspar and quartz, allowing the pieces to be fired at lower temperatures. Kaolinite, feldspar and quartz (or other forms of silica) continue to constitute the basic ingredients for most continental European hard-paste porcelains. Soft-paste porcelains date back from the early attempts by European potters to replicate Chinese porcelain by using mixtures of clay and frit. Soapstone and lime were known to have been