Albrechtsburg is a Late Gothic palace perched on the promontory above Meissen, overlooking a bend in the Elbe. Built between 1471 and 1524 by Master Arnold of Westphalia for the Wettin brothers Ernst and Albert, it is considered one of the earliest large residential palaces in Germany — a building that sits at the transition between the medieval fortified castle and the Renaissance palace. The exterior is remarkable: soaring spiral staircases in external towers, large window openings, and a roofline of decorative gables.
Inside, the rooms are decorated with nineteenth-century historicist paintings commissioned when the Saxon state took over the building after the porcelain factory moved out. These are dramatic if somewhat overwrought, but the architecture of the interior spaces — the vaulted ceilings, the carved stone door surrounds — is genuinely medieval and worth looking at carefully. The Große Stube (Great Hall) with its extraordinary net vault is the highlight.
The combined ticket with the adjacent Cathedral is good value. Allow an hour for each, and don't miss the view from the terrace over the Elbe valley.