a town of Saxony, circle of Dresden, occupying a picturesque position on the left bank of the Elbe, 15 miles N.W. of Dresden. The town is for the most part ill built, and the streets are narrow and gloomy. The principal building is the cathedral, a fine Gothic edifice, surmounted by a spire adorned with elegant open work, and containing numerous ancient monuments of the ancestors of the Saxon line of princes and others, as well as several pictures by Albert Durer and Cranach, among which are portraits of Luther, his wife, and his friend Fre- derick, the elector of Saxony. Close to the cathedral is the Princes' chapel; and not far off stands the palace of Albrechtsburg; formerly the residence of the margraves, but now used as a porcelain manufactory, from which the finest articles are produced. On a high rock, near that on which the palace stands, and joined to it by a stone bridge, stands the former convent of St Afra, now used as a school. There are also several hospitals and other charitable and educational institutions in Meissen. The chief branches of industry pursued here are the manufacture of porcelain, employing 500 or 600 hands, and the making of wine. There are also sugar refineries, tanneries, and dyeworks, but they are not of much importance. Pop. 8914.