The German city home to the Meissen porcelain factory is Meissen, in Saxony.
The town became a landmark in European ceramics after experiments by Ehrenfried Walther von Tschirnhaus and Johann Friedrich Böttger produced Europe’s first successful hard-paste porcelain. Augustus the Strong, elector of Saxony and king of Poland, supported the work, and a royal factory began production at Meissen’s Albrechtsburg castle in 1710.
The factory later moved from the castle to the Triebisch river valley in 1861, still within Meissen. Its porcelain became famous for richly painted tableware, elaborate Rococo ornament, and finely modeled figures. The crossed-swords mark, introduced around 1720, is among the best-known identifiers in ceramic history.
Dresden is the tempting wrong answer because Meissen lies roughly 25 kilometers northwest of Dresden and the two cities share Saxon cultural history. However, Dresden is not the factory’s home. In English, “Meissen” is standard; the German city’s name is written “Meißen,” while “Meissen” is also the manufacturer’s trademarked form.