Meissen Another popular tourist sight is the world-famous Meissen porcelain factory. From spring to autumn, several festivals take place in Meissen, such as the pottery market or the "Weinfest", which celebrates the wine harvest. Meissen wine is produced at the vineyards in the river valley ("Elbtal") around the town, part of the Saxonian wine region, one of the northernmost in Europe. Meissen is twinned with: Meissen Meissen (in German orthography: "Meißen", ) is a town of approximately 30,000 about northwest of Dresden on both banks of the Elbe river in the Free State of Saxony, in eastern Germany. Meissen is the
Meissen porcelain ("Königlich-Polnische und Kurfürstlich-Sächsische Porzellan-Manufaktur"), placed Böttger's laboratory at Albrechtsburg castle in Meissen and production started officially in 1710. The first type of ware produced by Böttger was a refined and extremely hard red stoneware known as "Böttger ware" in English (in German "Böttgersteinzeug"). It retained very crisp definition in its cast, applied details, on bodies that could be polished to a gloss before firing. Models were derived from Baroque silver shapes and Chinese ceramic examples. Meissen's production of a hard paste white porcelain that could be glazed and painted soon followed, and wares were put on the market in 1713.