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Meissen (in German orthography: Meißen) is a town of approximately 30,000 about 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. [edit] History
Meissen is sometimes known as the "cradle of Saxony". It grew out of the early West Slavic settlement of Misni inhabited by the 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. In 965, the Margraviate of Meissen, a frontier march of the Holy Roman Empire, was founded, with Meissen as its capital. A market town by 1000, Meissen passed to the Duchy of Poland in 1002 under Boleslaw I the Brave, afterwards into hands of Henry II a few months later and to the House of Wettin in 1089. In 1015, Meissen was besieged by the Poles led by future King Mieszko II. In 1241, the town was attacked in the Mongol raid on Meissen. The small Mongol force under Orda Khan defeated Meissens's defenders and much of the town was destroyed. The Mongols withdrew from Germany after the death of Ögedei Khan, sparing the region from further destruction. The town was at the forefront of the Ostsiedlung, or intensive German settlement of the rural Slavic lands east of the Elbe, and its reception of town rights dates to 1332. The construction of Meissen Cathedral was begun in 1260 on the same hill as the Albrechtsburg castle. The resulting lack of space led to the cathedral being one of the smallest cathedrals in Europe. The church is also known as being one of the purest examples of Gothic architecture. In 1423, Meissen became capital of the Electorate of Saxony. In 1464, the capital was moved to Dresden. In 1759, the Austrians defeated the Prussians at the Battle of Meissen. During World War II, a subcamp of Flossenbürg concentration camp was located in Meissen. Meissen served as an important place of religious dialogue in 1988 when the agreement on mutual recognition between the German Evangelical Church (both East and West German) and the Church of England was signed in the town in 1988. [edit] Research Tips
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