The first thing we did was go on a tour through the plant's museum. We were taken through all the steps in the production process. In each room there was a recorded explanation, along with classical music to set the tone. At the same time there was someone working, demonstrating the steps described in the narration. For example, in one room a woman painted the decoration onto an entire plate in the amount of time it took for the narration!
Afterwards we got to look at the "exams" of the students there- the most precise drawings of flowers, birds, whatever. This part I enjoyed the most. Although it all had a certain stuffiness to it- they were being trained for uniformity, and not creative expression- I was really in awe of how much control they had, and how exact everything was!! We went through the museum's collection, which was nice, but kind of boring- pretty much just a catalogue of plates and figures that had been produced throughout the history of the company. Although there were a few things that were pretty cool- there was this one sculpture, that I'm not sure if it reminded me more of a wedding cake or of a church. Anyway, it was huge, and had its own table to sit on, and took up most of the space in the one room.
The rest of the day we had to explore the town.
Meissen is such a great little Medieval city! All these narrow winding cobblestone roads, squished in between the walls of the buildings on either side- generally two or three story stucco, with steep-pitched orange tile roofs!
The city has two parts- one below along the river, and one above on the hill, like a built-up festament. Even though there is a fairly clear distinction- the cliff is so steep!- the two really blend together.
From below the two spires of the cathedral towered above the roofs that define an extremely high horizon,
and from above you get a fantastic view over the orange landscape of roofs.
But once you get to the Domplatz, in the center of the higher part of the city, the view below is cut off completely by the surrounding buildings, and you are simply confronted with the presence of the cathedral.
We decided to stop for coffee in one of the restaurants up here, and got a great surprise. We were led through- underneath, really- the building, and wound up on a terrace on the other side that had this fantastic view!
Afterwards we went into the Dom. It is a beautiful Gothic cathedral, with gorgeous stained glass in the choir,
and a Meissen porcelain altar piece. (of course!)
I was in awe, and so was kind of caught off guard when Nora said, "oh yeah, another cathedral." Nothing new to her- she had seen hundreds of them! Such a difference between American and European viewpoints!
No comments:
Post a Comment