Meissen - Castle Hill Burgberg

The Albrechtsburg on Meissen's Burgberg, founded in 929 and built in its present form by Arnold of Westphalia, is one of the finest secular buildings of the Late Gothic period. It was the seat of Electors Ernst and Albrecht of the Wettin dynasty.

On the courtyard side of the castle is a large spiral staircase. The rooms in the interior have richly decorated vaulting and ceilings. The paintings in many of the rooms date from the renovation of the castle about 1870. On the ground floor can be seen an exhibition on the history of the Albrechtsburg.

The Early Gothic Cathedral on Meissen's Burgberg was begun about 1260 but was much altered and extended (nave, west doorway, Fürstenkapelle, Georgenkapelle) in later centuries. The figures of the founders (c. 1260) were the work of sculptors from Naumburg. The interior is richly furnished (religious pictures, many monuments). The two west towers, destroyed by lightning in 1547, were rebuilt in 1903-08.

In the Domplatz on Meissen's Burgberg are canons' houses and the Kornhaus.