This time it drove us to the heart of Germany.
We've heard of a traditional firm that was abandoned after 200 years of production.
In the past, porcelain was manufactured in here.
According to rumors all these factory halls are supposed to be full of the so-called white gold.
And in fact, we couldn’t believe what we found inside.
From casting mold to the finished tableware everything was left behind.
And much to our surprise we realized that there was only minimal vandalism in here.
But although the factory looks like it was abandoned just recently it has been vacant for several years now.
The ravages of time took their toll on several places in here.
Stay tuned for a crazy urbex adventure you probably haven’t experienced like that before.
So you've seen some shots from the interior now and you probably think it must be really hard to get inside.
You know it's likely that those guys from Broken Window Theory had to dodge security and watchdogs
or climb to an open window in the third floor or perhaps even pick a lock.
Well, actually all the doors were open and we could walk in easily.
As an urban explorer yourself or an avid viewer of such videos you have probably seen many abandoned sites in the past
where no or only a small amount of items were left behind.
So have we.
But the objects that are still in this porcelain factory
run up into the thousands, maybe even in the hundreds of thousands!
Of course we were wondering why everything was left behind like that.
Only a few months ago we were exploring an abandoned clothing factory.
Also, at that place, all the interior was still there.
Around one hundred sewing machines are rotting away in this derelict ruin.
But of course not without reason.
This porcelain manufactory also has a story behind it.
But let us start at the beginning.
Already 200 years ago, a porcelain factory was built in this location.
In the beginning, especially tableware was manufactured here.
In order to do that, around 200 people were employed.
Which is pretty remarkable because at that time the village where the factory is located
had a population of less than 1.000 citizens.
After some time the production process was completed by the fabrication of toys and jewelry made of porcelain.
At the Paris world's fair in 1900, the products of this manufacturer were exhibited for the first time
and immediately honored with an award.
At the universal exhibition in St. Louis, USA, only a few years later,
the china received a gold medal due to its high quality.
From then on, top-rated artists and professionals were trained here.
Until 1938, the porcelain factory remained in the possessions of one single family.
But with the outbreak of the Second World War this company started to be in a moribund state.
Under Soviet occupation the manufacture was expropriated
and it was turned into a state-owned enterprise.
Henceforth Eastern Europe was the only market for the company.
But luckily the outstanding porcelain was still rated as a luxury good.
After the German reunification and the privatization of the company the real trouble started.
The reorientation failed and the trend of the time had been missed.
And bankruptcy was following.
The first one, that is.
Because shortly after that there was a last attempt to get the place up and running.
It was tried to sell all those remaining pieces of porcelain at a factory outlet.
But there was no demand.
In 2014, the factory became insolvent again and since then the property has been abandoned.
Okay, but why are all the furnishings and the materials still here?
Well, that's easy to answer.
We think that all of this stuff is involved in the insolvency proceedings.
That’s why it was not allowed to remove them.
“Do not touch this sample!”
Only a few weeks after our exploration there was a foreclosure auction of the business realty.
Needless to say that the whole interior of the building complex was sold with it.
By the way, the market value of the real estate was estimate at 100.000 Euros.
But unfortunately we don't know whether there’s a new owner of the porcelain factory now or not.
Even today, porcelain is called the white gold.
Why? We will explain this to you in the following.
In China, porcelain was used already for centuries when it had been invented for the second time in Europe.
Around 1708, the formula was discovered by accident.
Many miles away from this factory, Saxon King August the Strong imprisoned an alchemist
that claimed he was able to produce gold.
While he was captive in a fortress he should show the king how to do that.
But instead he found out how to manufacture porcelain.
At first it was nearly as valuable as gold.
And that's where the name "White Gold" comes from.
As a result the first porcelain factory of Europe was established in Meissen
which is the Saxon town where the alchemist was imprisoned for some time.
Until today the trademark of this porcelain are the two swords which originated from the Saxon king's emblem.
By the way: We know so much about the history because we basically grew up in the area
where it happened many centuries ago.
Until today all the process steps of the porcelain production are still the same.
At first there are all those raw materials.
These are porcelain clay which is called kaolin, several minerals and quartz.
In the beginning they are mixed, refined and processed.
In the next step that liquid mixture is poured into a mould.
For example these negative forms were used for that in the past.
After they got their form the articles needed to dry.
To get them dry, people in this factory probably used the waste heat of the kilns.
In the close proximity of the pieces we found one of these kilns.
At a temperature of around 1.000 degrees Celsius the future porcelain was fired in here for multiple hours.
After that they get glazed and kilned for the second time.
Now it is time for the decoration.
In the most cases the master painters had only one single attempt.
Another technique of decoration is the application of decals.
Some real pieces of art were crafted in this work step.
Now the porcelain needs to be kilned one last time.
As a result it becomes its typical look.
After several hours in these chock-full halls we came to the conclusion
that apparently everything that's needed for a resumption of work was still there.
The only thing this place needs right now is a new owner with a vision.
And obviously a lot of money.
It's a shame to see a historic company in such a bad condition.
But the whole porcelain tradition of this part of Germany is critically endangered.
Because the Western market isn't ready to pay high prices for theses fine pieces of craftsmanship.
Instead, porcelain gets imported from the East more and more.
So this abandoned manufactory won't be an isolated case.
For more photos of our explorations visit us on Facebook and Instagram.
This was our tour through this porcelain factory.
Thanks for joining us!
If you want to help us create even better videos, you could subscribe to the channel,
pledge on Patreon or buy our urbex merchandise on Spreadshirt.
All the links are in the video description down below.