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29-499: It is the most famous monument in the inner city of Chemnitz, where it has gained the nickname "Nischel", which is derived from the Saxon term for head or skull. After renaming the city and the district of Chemnitz to Karl-Marx-Stadt on 10 May 1953 for Karl Marx Year , the East German government decided to honour the namesake of the city, and hired a Soviet sculptor, Lev Kerbel , to design

58-650: A focal point of artists and scientists, the language of the Upper Saxon elite (but not of its ordinary people) was considered the exemplary variant of German during that period. The literary theorist Johann Christoph Gottsched (1700–1766), who spent most of his adult life in Leipzig, considered Saxony's upper-class speech as the guiding form of standard German. When Johann Christoph Adelung published his High German dictionary ( Grammatisch-kritisches Wörterbuch der hochdeutschen Mundart ), he made clear that "High German" to him meant

87-599: A monument. The monument was cast in the art foundry Monument Skulptura in Leningrad in bronze and then broken down into 95 pieces. In Karl-Marx-Stadt, these items were to be welded together again, but the Soviet technology was not suitable. Instead, it was decided to transfer the job to the VEB Germania. The monument stands on two pedestals with Korninskij granite, named after the mining region in southern Ukraine. On 9 October 1971,

116-1293: Is a town of approximately 30,000 about 25 km (16 mi) northwest of Dresden on both banks of the Elbe river in the Free State of Saxony , in eastern Germany . Meissen is the home of Meissen porcelain , the Albrechtsburg castle, the Gothic Meissen Cathedral and the Meissen Frauenkirche. The Große Kreisstadt is the capital of the Meissen district . [REDACTED] Margraviate of Meissen 968–1002 [REDACTED] Duchy of Poland 1002 [REDACTED] Margraviate of Meissen 1002–1423 [REDACTED]   Electorate of Saxony 1423–1806 [REDACTED]   Kingdom of Saxony 1806–1871 [REDACTED]   German Empire 1871–1918 [REDACTED]   Weimar Republic 1918–1933 [REDACTED]   Nazi Germany 1933–1945 [REDACTED]   Allied-occupied Germany 1945–1949 [REDACTED]   East Germany 1949–1990 [REDACTED]   Germany 1990–present It grew out of

145-485: Is a subject of numerous stereotypical jokes. The mildly derogatory verb sächseln means to speak with a Saxon accent . Like many other German languages, Upper Saxon features the unrounding of vowel sounds descended from Middle High German (/ø/, /øː/, /y/, /yː/, and /yə̯/ to /e/, /eː/, /i/, and /iː/). This results in words such as bäse for Standard German böse (wicked) and Biehne for Standard German Bühne (stage). In common with other East Central German varieties

174-571: Is an East Central German dialect spoken in much of the modern German state of Saxony and in adjacent parts of southeastern Saxony-Anhalt and eastern Thuringia . As of the early 21st century, it is mostly extinct and a new regiolect (also known as obersächsische Umgangssprache ) has emerged instead. Though colloquially called "Saxon" ( Sächsisch ), it is not to be confused with the Low Saxon dialect group in Northern Germany . Upper Saxon

203-562: Is closely linked to the Thuringian dialect spoken in the adjacent areas to the west. Standard German has been heavily based on Upper Saxon, especially in its lexicon and grammar. This is due to it being used as the basis for early developments in the standardization of German during the early 1500s, including the translation of the Bible by Martin Luther . Upper Saxon evolved as a new variety in

232-537: Is one of the most famous burial places of the Wettin family. The hill on which the castle and the cathedral are built offers a view over the roofs of the old town. Meissen's historical district is located mostly around the market at the foot of the castle hill. It contains many buildings of Renaissance architecture . Also imposing is the view from the 57-metre-high tower of the Frauenkirche (Church of Our Lady), situated in

261-596: Is pronounced [oˤ] (or similarly, depending on the subdialect), which speakers of other German dialects tend to hear as [oː] ; e.g. [ˈheːo̯ˤ] 'higher' (Standard [ˈhøːɐ̯] höher ) is misheard as if written hä(h)er . The Upper Saxon varieties outside the Ore Mountains can be easily recognized by the supposed "softening" ( lenition ) of the voiceless stop consonants /p/, /t/ and /k/ . Speakers of other dialects hear these as if they were "b", "d" and "g" respectively. In reality, these are merely non-aspirated versions of

290-896: Is the weakening of consonants, resulting in words such as Kardoffeln for Standard German "Kartoffeln" (potatoes) and Babba for Standard German Papa (dad). Additionally, /ë/ is reduced to /a/, resulting in Standard German Schwester (sister) becoming Schwaster in Upper Saxon. The most notable distinguishing feature of the dialect is that the letters o and u are pronounced as centralized vowels ( [ɞ] and [ɵ] , respectively, when short; [ɵː] and [ʉː] , respectively, when long). Speakers of other German dialects that do not have these sounds tend to perceive these sounds as being ö [øː] and ü [yː] respectively. For example, they hear [ˈɵːma] 'grandma' as if written Öma (Standard Oma [ˈoːma] ). Front rounded vowels are pronounced as non-rounded ( ö = [eː] , ü = [iː] ). Final -er

319-731: The Battle of Meissen . During World War II , a subcamp of Flossenbürg concentration camp was located in Meissen. Meissen served as an important place of religious dialogue in 1988 when the agreement on mutual recognition between the German Evangelical Church (both East and West German) and the Church of England was signed in the town. Meissen is famous for the manufacture of porcelain , based on extensive local deposits of china clay ( kaolin ) and potter's clay (potter's earth). Meissen porcelain

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348-866: The Katholische Hofkirche in Dresden. In 965, the Margraviate of Meissen , a frontier march of the Holy Roman Empire , was founded, with Meissen as its capital. A market town by 1000, Meissen passed to the Duchy of Poland in 1002 under Boleslaw I the Brave , afterwards into hands of Henry II a few months later and to the House of Wettin in 1089. In 1015, Meissen was besieged by the Poles led by future King Mieszko II . In 1241,

377-481: The Prussian capital of Berlin , rated the "unpleasant singsong" and "highly peculiar confusion of b and p, of d and t"—even among upper-class speakers—"very crude". According to linguist Beat Siebenhaar , Upper Saxon — defined as a cohesive linguistic system with its own, clear rules for pronunciation , word formation and syntax — became largely extinct during the second half of the 19th to early 20th century. This

406-724: The pottery market or the Weinfest , which celebrates the wine harvest. Meissen wine is produced at the vineyards in the river valley ( Elbtal ) around the town, part of the Saxonian wine region , one of the northernmost in Europe. Meissen is the home of the Saxon public elite college Sächsisches Landesgymnasium Sankt Afra zu Meißen . Also the Saxon Civil Servants Academy and the Academy of

435-608: The course of the medieval German Ostsiedlung (eastern colonisation) from about 1100 onwards. Settlers descending from the stem duchies of Saxony , Franconia , and Bavaria , as well as Thuringia and Flanders , moved into the Margravate of Meissen between the Elbe and Saale rivers, formerly populated by Polabian Slavs . As the colonists belonged to different German tribes speaking different dialects, Upper Saxon became an intermediary, koiné dialect ( Kolonialdialekt or Ausgleichsdialekt ), having less distinct features than

464-581: The early West Slavic settlement of Miśni inhabited by Glomatians and was founded as a German town by King Henry the Fowler in 929. In 968, the Diocese of Meissen was founded, and Meissen became the episcopal see of a bishop . The Catholic bishopric was suppressed in 1581 after the diocese accepted the Protestant Reformation (1559), but re-created in 1921 with its seat first at Bautzen and now at

493-476: The former residence of the House of Wettin , is regarded as being the first castle to be used as a royal residence in the German-speaking world. Built between 1472 and 1525, it is a fine example of late Gothic style. It was redecorated in the 19th century with a range of murals depicting Saxon history. Today the castle is a museum. Nearby is the 13th-century Gothic Meissen Cathedral ( Meißner Dom ), whose chapel

522-660: The monument led to a heated debate when Karl-Marx-Stadt returned to its former name of Chemnitz. Many other cities around the world at that time reported interest in buying the monument; there have been discussions about a sale to Cologne. Until 2007, the motto of the city was "Stadt mit Köpfchen" (the city with heads/brains), referring to the monument. 50°50′9″N 12°55′24″E  /  50.83583°N 12.92333°E  / 50.83583; 12.92333 Upper Saxon German Upper Saxon ( German : Obersächsisch , standard pronunciation: [ˈoːbɐˌzɛksɪʃ] , Upper Saxon pronunciation: [ɵːb̥oˤˈsɛɡ̊sʃ] )

551-478: The monument was inaugurated before a crowd of around 250,000 people along Karl-Marx-Allee (popularly referred to as "Nischelgasse" ("Skull Alley"), today's Brückenstraße). As the landmark of the city, it served during holidays in the German Democratic Republic as a backdrop for pageants and other mass events. The monument remained intact after German reunification , although the proposed demolition of

580-624: The old market-place. This church, not to be confused with the Dresden Frauenkirche , was first mentioned in a 1205 deed issued by Bishop Dietrich II and after a blaze about 1450 rebuilt in the Late Gothic style of a hall church . Its tower hosts the world's first porcelain carillon, manufactured in 1929 on the occasion of the town's 1000-years-jubilee. Another popular tourist sight is the world-famous Meissen porcelain factory. From spring to autumn, several festivals take place in Meissen, such as

609-575: The older, more original dialects. In the Middle Ages , a variety of Upper Saxon called Meißner Kanzleisächsisch developed as the " chancery language" of Saxony. This was the official, literary language of the Margravate of Meissen (respectively the Electorate of Saxony after 1423), replacing Latin as the language of administrators during the period of Renaissance humanism (15th to 16th century). It

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638-612: The parlance of educated Upper Saxons. He claimed that the Upper Saxon variety was to the German language what Attic was to Greek and Tuscan to Italian . One motive of the parents of German national poet Johann Wolfgang Goethe (a native of Frankfurt ) to send him to study in Leipzig was to adopt a more sophisticated language. With Saxony's loss of political power after the Seven Years' War (1756–63), its dialect lost prestige as well. In 1783, philosopher Johann Erich Biester , residing in

667-484: The porcelain factory can still be found today. Along with porcelain, other ceramics are also manufactured in the town. In the old town streets, there have been set up numerous porcelain stores, often selling antique Meissen porcelain and sometimes offering repair of broken porcelain. In Meissen and the surrounding area, several former painters from the manufacturer have set up porcelain painting workshops and galleries with their own pieces of porcelain art. The Albrechtsburg,

696-579: The same /p/, /t/ and /k/ , a widespread feature among Central German dialects, as opposed to strongly aspirated [pʰ] , [tʰ] and [kʰ] in dominant German dialects. In contrast to neighboring Thuringian, Upper Saxon infinitives end in -en as in Standard German rather than -e. The accent varies from place to place depending on the grade of the High German consonant shift : Mei%C3%9Fen Meissen ( German : Meißen , [ˈmaɪsn̩] ),

725-642: The town was attacked in the Mongol raid on Meissen . The small Mongol force under Orda Khan defeated Meissens's defenders and much of the town was destroyed. The Mongols withdrew from Germany after the death of Ögedei Khan , sparing the region from further destruction. The town was at the forefront of the Ostsiedlung , or intensive German settlement of the rural Slavic lands east of the Elbe, and its reception of town rights dates to 1332. The construction of Meissen Cathedral

754-564: Was begun in 1260 on the same hill as the Albrechtsburg castle. The resulting lack of space led to the cathedral being one of the smallest cathedrals in Europe . The church is also known as being one of the purest examples of Gothic architecture. In 1423, Meissen became capital of the Electorate of Saxony . In 1464, the capital was moved to Dresden . In 1759, the Austrians defeated the Prussians at

783-558: Was due to the increased adoption of the standard language among the Saxony populace. Since then, (Upper) Saxon merely refers to a colloquial, regional variety of Standard German and not a dialect in the proper sense. Spoken by leading communists from the Central German industrial area such as Walter Ulbricht , the Upper Saxon dialect was commonly perceived as the colloquial speech of East Germany by West German citizens and up to today

812-727: Was less influenced by Upper German features than the Habsburg chancery language, and thus intelligible to speakers of both Upper and Low German dialects. In the context of the Bible translation by Martin Luther , it played a large part in the development of the Early New High German language as a standard variety. Due to the influence and prestige of the Electorate of Saxony during the Baroque era (17th to 18th century), and especially its role as

841-736: Was the first high-quality porcelain to be produced outside of the Orient . The first European porcelain was manufactured in Meissen in 1710, when by decree of King Augustus II the Strong the Royal-Polish and Electoral-Saxon Porcelain Factory ( Königlich-Polnische und Kurfürstlich-Sächsische Porzellan-Manufaktur ) was opened in the Albrechtsburg. In 1861, it was moved to the Triebisch river valley of Meissen, where

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