Meissen (district) covered by the "Amtshauptmannschaften" Meissen, Dresden and Großenhain. In 1939, these were renamed "Landkreise" (districts). In the administrative reform of 1952, several municipalities were transferred to the districts of Freiberg and Döbeln. In 1990, the old district borders were restored, and in 1996 parts of the district Dresden-Land were added. In August 2008 the district of Riesa-Großenhain was added to the district to give it its current size. The main river of the district is the Elbe, which also flows through the city of Meissen. Meissen (district) Meissen () is a district ("Kreis") in the Free State of Saxony, Germany.
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.