Meissen

Meissen (in German orthography: Meißen) is a town of approximately 30,000 about 25 km (16 mi) northwest of Dresden on both banks of the Elbe river in the Free State of Saxony, in eastern Germany. Meissen is the home of Meissen porcelain, the Albrechtsburg castle, the Gothic Meissen Cathedral and the Meissen Frauenkirche. The Grosse Kreisstadt is the capital of the Meissen district.

Names

History

Samo's Empire 631-658
Margraviate of Meissen 968–1002
Poland 1002
Margraviate of Meissen 1002–1423
 Electorate of Saxony 1423–1697
Poland-Saxony 1697–1706
 Electorate of Saxony 1706–1709
Poland-Saxony 1709–1763
 Electorate of Saxony 1763–1806
 Kingdom of Saxony 1806–1871
 German Empire 1871–1918
 Weimar Republic 1918–1933
 Nazi Germany 1933–1945
 Allied-occupied Germany 1945–1949
 East Germany 1949–1990
 Germany 1990–present

Meissen is sometimes known as the "cradle of Saxony". The city grew out of the early Slavic settlement of Mis(s)ni, named for the small river Mis(s)na today Meis(s)abach (see Miesbach/Musbach/Mosbach), inhabited by the Slavic Glomacze tribe and was founded as a German town by King Henry the Fowler in 929. In 968, the Diocese of Meissen was founded, and Meissen became the episcopal see of a bishop. The Catholic bishopric was suppressed in 1581 after the diocese accepted the Protestant Reformation (1559), but re-created in 1921 with its seat first at Bautzen and now at the Katholische Hofkirche in Dresden.

Meissen (district)

Meissen (German: Meißen) is a district (Kreis) in the Free State of Saxony, Germany. It is bounded by (from the north and clockwise) the state of Brandenburg, the district of Bautzen, the urban district Dresden, the districts Sächsische Schweiz-Osterzgebirge, Mittelsachsen and Nordsachsen.

History

The district dates back to the Amt Meißen, which was first mentioned in 1334. The district was ruled by the Wettin dynasty. The Margraves of what then became the Margravate of Meissen created the administrative division (Amt) in the 13th century. In 1835 the Amt was converted into an Amtshauptmannschaft, with the area of the current 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.