Meissen
First Porcelain of Europe
Portrait
Augustus the Strong imprisoned the alchemist Johann Friedrich Böttger in Albrechtsburg castle until he produced hard-paste porcelain in 1708, breaking a Chinese monopoly of six hundred years; the workers were kept under guard to protect the formula, and the crossed-swords mark of 1722 is the oldest trademark still in use. The manufactory below the castle still paints by hand.
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