Albrechtsburg, Gothic castle on hilltop, Meissen, Germany

Albrechtsburg is a Late Gothic castle built from 1471 to about 1495 on a rocky plateau above the Elbe in Meissen, next to the cathedral. Its hook-shaped plan has a low ground floor and two main floors with large curtain-arch windows, plus a roof storey lit by dormers. All storeys are vaulted, and the courtyard staircase tower carries reliefs by Christoph Walther I.

Henry I built a fortress on the rock above the Elbe in 929, after subduing the Glomacze at Gana; it became the seat of the Margraves of Meissen. From 1471 the brothers Ernst and Albrecht commissioned Arnold von Westfalen to replace it with the first German palace, completed around 1495. In 1710 Augustus the Strong installed the Meissen porcelain manufactory in the empty building, and between 1864 and 1870 it was rebuilt and painted with history scenes.

The castle is named after Duke Albrecht, who received it in the 1485 division of Wettin lands; the name Albrechtsburg was only adopted in 1676. His son Georg the Bearded was the first to use it as a residence. Since 1864, rooms have been painted with history scenes, and today a permanent exhibition covers the site's history.

Entry is via Domplatz 1 in Meissen, with guided tours starting daily at 10 AM. The building offers wheelchair accessibility and elevators to reach the main exhibition areas comfortably.

Augustus the Strong chose the empty castle for the manufactory in 1710 because its isolated hilltop location made the porcelain secret easier to guard; production began there on 6 June 1710. The works stayed until the mid-19th century, when the manufactory moved to a new factory building.