Original: Meissen ( in German orthography : Meißen ; ; ) is a town of approximately 30,000 about northwest of Dresden on both banks of the Elbe river in the Free State of Saxony , in eastern Germany .
Simplified: Meißen ( Sorbian : Mišno ) is a town of about 30,000 near Dresden on both banks of the Elbe in the Free State of Saxony , in eastern Germany .