The Meissen Porcelain Manufactory is, in our view, one of the greatest sights in Saxony. There is a large building for visitors with a museum, an exhibition of porcelain, show workshops and a shop for Meissen porcelain. The modern building for visitors is right next to the manufacturing buildings of the world-famous porcelain about 1 kilometre from the old town of Meissen. The official name is Erlebniswelt Meißen.
Tickets Meißen Porzellan Manufaktur: We recommend buying tickets online. It is often very busy at the ticket office. More and more visitors buy their tickets for Meissen Porzellan online in advance. Tickets cost 12 euros for adults (exhibition workshop, shop and museum). Tickets are available from Getyourguide at this link.
The highlight for many visitors is the show workshop. Here you can visit four rooms, in each of which important steps in porcelain production are demonstrated by an employee of the Meissen Porcelain Manufactory. In the first room, a lathe operator shows how to produce the raw form of an object from porcelain. In the second room, a so-called embosser creates the final shape. In the third room, the focus is on painting under glass (usually only a few or a few colours, such as the famous blue of Meissen porcelain). In the fourth room, an artist shows the colourful painting on glass. To this day, everything in Meissen is done by hand. Hence the rather high prices of Meissen porcelain.
Day trip by boat from Dresden to Meißen: The great trip by boat between Dresden and Meißen on the river Elbe takes about 2 hours. On this Link you can book the boat trip with the paddle steamer one way or return.
Visitors to the porcelain manufactory spend a few minutes in each of the four rooms. The show is very interesting, a lot is explained and you can also ask questions. The show workshop is the highlight of the visit for most guests. It takes about half an hour to get through the 4 workshops.
Before and after the show workshop, you walk through the sales rooms of the Meissen Porcelain Manufactory. After visiting the four workshops, you understand why Meissen porcelain is so expensive. Everything is painstakingly made and painted by hand. This means that every item produced is unique and a work of art.
Tickets Meissen Porzellan Manufaktur: We recommend buying tickets online. It is often very busy at the ticket office. More and more visitors buy their tickets for Meissen Porzellan online in advance. Tickets cost 12 euros for adults (exhibition workshop, shop and museum). Tickets are available from Getyourguide at this link.
In the showrooms, all porcelain objects have a price tag. This polar bear, for example, costs about 8,500 euros. There are also things like plates for under 50 euros.
>>> Tickets online at Getyourguide.
Especially on the 1st and 2nd floor there is a large museum about the history and products of the Meissen manufactory. Large and small handicrafts made of porcelain are exhibited in many rooms. Great and well done museum!
History of Meissen Porcelain
Porcelain has been made in China since about the 1st century AD. From about the 13th century onwards, Chinese porcelain came to Europe and was very expensive, partly because of the long and difficult transport routes. The Elector of Saxony Augustus the Strong was a great fan of Chinese porcelain around the year 1700 and made a successful effort to produce porcelain, the first in Europe, in Saxony. In 1708 and 1709, the first porcelain was produced in Saxony, in Dresden and Meissen. Soon, in 1710, a manufactory for porcelain was opened in Meissen. The “white gold” was produced under strict secrecy about the production process in the Albrechtsburg in Meissen. But after only a few years, Saxony was no longer the only production site for porcelain in Europe. Vienna and other cities also succeeded in producing similar products. In 1863 the manufactory moved from the castle above the town to the city of Meissen. It became too cramped in the castle. Meissen porcelain is still produced on the site today. The visitor centre described above is right next to it.
Meissen porcelain was a nationally owned, state-owned enterprise in the GDR. To this day, the manufactory is owned by the state in the form of the Free State of Saxony. Production only takes place at the factory in Meissen. Everything is still handmade. From the start of operations in 1710 until today, the Meissen manufactory has been the most famous porcelain company in Europe.
The manufactory’s logo, 2 crossed swords, is considered one of the oldest company logos in the world.
Tickets Meißen Porzellan Manufaktur: We recommend buying tickets online. On site at the ticket office it is often very busy. More and more visitors buy their Meissen Porzellan tickets online in advance. Tickets cost 12 euros for adults (exhibition workshop, shop and museum). Tickets are available from Getyourguide at this link.
Short Youtube video about Meissen Porzellan
