Tom`s travels: Meißen & Dresden (28-29/01/2023)

After heading back to Germany following the Christmas holidays, Ania had to go to Dresden for work for a few days. We decided then to meet up there and spend the weekend there. I left Berlin early on Saturday, and after arriving in Dresden took then an S-Bahn train to the nearby city of Meißen. Mostly famous for the manufacture of porcelain, the city has also a well-preserved old town. Meissen porcelain was in fact the first high-quality porcelain to be produced outside of the Orient, when, in 1710, by decree of King Augustus II the Strong the Royal-Polish and Electoral-Saxon Porcelain Factory was opened in the city's castle. Once I reached the city center, I continued on foot and walked through the pretty old town. I then reached the central square, the Marktplatz, surrounded by a beautiful mix of Gothic, Renaissance, and Baroque buildings and houses. Among them was the late gothic town hall, and the gothic hall church, the Frauenkirche, which was unfortunately closed. From there I then followed a street heading uphill that eventually led up to the high part of town. Here I passed by the church of St Afra, which was also closed, and then reached the entrance to the castle hill guarded by the Torhaus city gate. Once through I reached the castle hill, with a large open square with to the north the castle, the Albrechtsburg, at its center the Cathedral, and to the south several buildings connected to the cathedral including the provost and the Bishop's castle, former residence of the bishops of the Bishopric of Meissen. I decided to enter and visit the Cathedral, an impressive gothic hall church, established by Emperor Otto I in 968 as the episcopal see of the Bishopric of Meissen. Replacing an older Romanesque church, the present-day building was built between 1260 and 1410 with a length of more than 97m and a height of nearly 18, The two twin spires, reaching a height of 81m were only added at in 1903 and 1909. The interior features a long and tall central nave, with the sculptures of founder Emperor Otto and his wife Adelaide of Italy on the northern wall of the choir, as well as paintings from the studio of Lucas Cranach the Elder. A very interesting feature is the Prince's Chapel erected in 1425 on the western end of the cathedral, by the first Saxon elector from the House of Wettin, Margrave Frederick I, as the burial place of his dynasty. After the visit to the Cathedral, I then headed on to visit the nearby Albrechtsburg. After paying the entry ticket, I got a tablet which served as an interactive guide to the building but turned out to be more of a hassle than an actual help. The castle-palace is a mix of late Gothic and Renaissance from the late 15th century, mostly rebuilt in a neogothic style during the 19th century, and served residence of the Margraves of Meissen, who in 1423 acquired the Electorate of Saxony. Albrechtsburg Castle gained importance once again in 1710 when Augustus II the Strong had the Meissen porcelain manufactory set up inside the castle. In the middle of the 19th century, the manufactory was moved to a new building at the edge of the city and the castle stood empty again. This is when the old factory buildings were removed and the castle was rebuilt and fitted with elaborate paintings on the late Gothic walls and newer furniture. I toured the many large rooms including the scenic Large Hall and Large Court Chamber the latter of which saw the formal re-creation of the Free State of Saxon in 1990. After admiring the beautiful neo-gothic paintings of the walls depicting romantic scenes of Germanic history I then exited the building and headed down from the castle hill through the rest of the picturesque old town. Once at the eastern end of the town I crossed over the Elbe river and admired the historic center from that vantage point with the cathedral and castle towering above the old town rooftops. I then headed to the nearby train station from where I took an S-Bahn that brought me to nearby Dresden. As Ania was still not done, I had time to visit a few museums in the city that I hadn't managed to see on my previous visit due to them being closed. They were all located inside the Zwinger, the nice palatial complex with gardens right in the historic center. I started out by visiting the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, the gallery with the old masters' paintings from the 15th to the 18th centuries, featuring major Italian Renaissance works as well as Dutch and Flemish paintings, and German, French, and Spanish painters. A hallway also led me underground and to some other rooms with ancient antiquities from the ancient Egyptian, greek, and Roman periods. Another section of the Zwinger held another section of the Dresden State Art Collections which was the Dresden Porcelain Collection. The The collection was founded in 1715 by the Saxon Prince-Elector Augustus the Strong, who as mentioned earlier also started the production in Meißen. It showcases some beautiful examples of local and international porcelain pieces some of which incredible and colorful. After that it was time for the last section, the Mathematisch-Physikalischer Salon which had a nice and interesting collection of of historic clocks and scientific instruments. After visiting the museums I joined Ania who was done with work and we decided to head to our accommodation. After reaching the place we called the owner who said he was out and he would call his brother. After a bit of waiting we were called back and told that only a room with a single bed was available. We called booking support and after a bit of back and forth, we finally changed our reservation and were sent back in the city to the Ibis Hotel. After finally checking in we then headed out to the city had a little stroll and then looked for a place to have dinner. We ended up picking Umaii Dresden where we had a tasty ramen.

The next morning after a relatively early wake up we left Dresden and took a bus that took us north to Mortizburg. The town is known for holding Moritzburg Castle, a Baroque palace with four round towers lying on a symmetrical artificial island. It is named after Duke Moritz of Saxony, who had a hunting lodge built there between 1542 and 1546 with the surrounding woodlands and lakes being a favorite hunting area of the electors and kings of Saxony. A chapel was then added between 1661 and 1671 and from 1723 to 1733, Elector Augustus II the Strong had the castle remodeled as a country seat adding a formal park, several ponds, and a game preserve. Once we reached the building we admired its size and architecture and noticed how the lake around it was completely frozen. We walked up to the castle but found out it could only be visited through a special exhibition on Cinderella, which seemed to cater mostly to kids and families so we decided not to enter. The main historic rooms were closed to visitors during the winter and only open in the summer, unfortunately. From the castle, we followed a path through the forest and reached then the Fasanenschlösschen, the Little Pheasant Castle, built between 1770 and 1776. Next to it, on another lake, was an interesting lighthouse which mustn't have been so useful in such a place. The miniature harbour was in fact rather used to stage naval battles for the August the Strong's amusement. After the stroll, we headed back towards the village and then took a bus which brought us back to Dresden. There, we switched to another bus that eventually brought us to Pillnitz, a village on the outskirts of the city. Here, on the bank of the Elbe river, we then visited Schloss Pillnitz, a neoclassical Baroque palace summer residence of many electors and kings of Saxony. The complex consists of three main buildings, the Riverside Palace facing the river; the Upper Palace facing the hills, both Baroque with Chinoiserie elements; and the later Neoclassical New Palace linking the other two. Between the three buildings is a nice Baroque garden which must look much better in spring and summer than during the winter when we visited. After a nice stroll around there, we then took yet another bus and headed back to Dresden. Once there we visited the small but nice Museum of Saxon Folk Art with objects and furniture from the Ore Mountains, Lusatia, and Vogtland. After visiting the museum it was time for us to head to the train station where we eventually took our ride back to Berlin.