Halle, Saxony-Anhalt
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| Country | Germany |
| State | Saxony-Anhalt |
| District | urban district |
| Population | 236,805 source (2006-06-30) |
| Area | 135.01 km² |
| Population density | 1,754 /km² |
| Elevation | 87 m |
| Coordinates | 51°28′ N 11°58′ E |
| Postal code | 06001-06132 |
| Area code | 0345 |
| Licence plate code | HAL |
| Mayor | Ingrid Häußler (SPD), will be succeeded by Dagmar Szabados (SPD) in May 2007 |
| Website | www.halle.de |
- See also: Halle (disambiguation)
Halle (also called Halle an der Saale in order to distinguish it from Halle in North Rhine-Westphalia) is the largest town in the German State of Saxony-Anhalt. It is situated in the southern part of the state, at the river Saale.
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[edit] History
Halle's early history is connected with harvesting of salt. The name Halle might derive from a proto-germanic word for salt. Also the name of the river Saale contains the Germanic root for salt. Salt-harvesting has taken place in Halle at least since the Bronze age.
The town was first mentioned in 806. It became a part of the bishopric principality of Magdeburg in the 10th century and remained so until 1680, when Brandenburg annexed it together with Magdeburg.
After World War II Halle served as the capital of the short-lived administrative region of Saxony-Anhalt (until 1952), when the East German government abolished its "Länder" (States). As a part of East Germany (until 1990), it functioned as the capital of the administrative district ("Bezirk") of Halle. When Saxony-Anhalt was re-established as a Bundesland, Magdeburg became the capital.
[edit] Main sights
- Giebichenstein Castle, first mentioned in 961, west of the city centre on a hill above the Saale river.
- Moritzburg, a newer castle, built in 1503; residence of the bishops of Magdeburg; destroyed in the Thirty Years' War, then a ruin for centuries, rebuilt in 1904; today an Art Gallery.
- Cathedral, a steepleless building, originally a church within a Dominican monastery (1271).
- Halle-Neustadt, most of it built in the 1960s, is situated in the west of Halle. A classic example of how mean, state sponsored housing, on a huge scale, combined with brutalist architecture and "one-size-fits-all" social engineering failed to achieve its aims – but did convince most of the people that lived there that moving to another city was a good idea. Halle-Neustadt is sometimes referred to as "Hanoi" – in an ironic play on words referring to the heavily bombed capital of Vietnam (Ha-Neu: abbreviation for Halle-Neustadt – German pronunciation: hanoi).
 Market Place with Red Tower |
 This water tower is also one of Halle' s sights. |
[edit] Miscellaneous
Within East Germany, Halle's chemical industry, now mainly shut down, was of great importance. The two main companies were Buna and Leuna. Halle-Neustadt was built in the sixties to accommodate employees of those two factories.
The famous Baroque composer Georg Friedrich Händel was born in Halle on February 23rd, 1685. He spent the first 17 years of his life in Halle. The house he lived in is now a museum. It houses an exhibition about Handel's life. To celebrate the composer, Halle stages an annual Handel-festival.
Georg Cantor worked as a professor at the university of Halle.
A university was founded in Halle in 1694. It is now combined with the University of Wittenberg and is called Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg.
Halle has the world's oldest Bible college.
Halle was a center of German Pietism and played an important role in establishing the Lutheran church in North America, when Henry Muhlenberg and others were sent as missionaries to Pennsylvania. Henry Muhlenberg's son, Frederick Muhlenberg, the first Speaker of the House of Representatives, was a graduate of Halle University.
In 961 Otto I granted land around burgh Giebichenstein with a brine to his family-cloister Saint Moritz of Magdeburg.
Dorothea Christiane Erxleben of Quedlinburg (1715-1762) made her Doctor of Medicine in 1754 at the Medical Department of Martin Luther University (MLU), founded by Friedrich Hoffmann (1660-1742), Hoffmann's anogyne or Hoffmanns Tropfen.
The Silver Treasure of the Halloren is displayed occasionally at the Technical Museum Saline, Mansfelder Street 52. It is a unique collection of goblets dating back to 1266. The goblets are made from silver and gold. Next time they are on display will be April 1st, 2007 from 10:00 a.m. till noon. The ancient craft of "Schausieden" boiling of the brine can be observed, too.
Salt, also known as White Gold, was extracted on four "Borns" (well-like structures). The four Borns/brine as Gutjahrwell, Meteritzwell, German Borne and Hackeborn are located around the Hallmarket or "Under Market", now a car park with a fountain, just across from the TV station, MDR. The brine was highly concentrated and boiled in Koten, simple structured houses made from reed and clay. Salters were known as Halloren wearing a unique uniform with eighteen golden buttons.
Halloren-Werke, the oldest chocolate factory in Germany, was founded in 1804. Old documents are on display and a chocolate room can be visited at Delitzscher Street 70. The original "Halloren-Kugeln" are sold in a box of eighteen little pralines.
Reinhard Heydrich, one of the leading Nazis in World War II, was born in the town. He was seen as the successor to Hitler. Heydrich was assassinated by Czech partisans in Prague in 1942.
Hans-Dietrich Genscher, a former Vice Chancellor and longest serving Foreign Minister of Germany, was born in Reideburg, which belongs to Halle today.
Many Plattenbau houses can be found in Halle, especially in Halle-Neustadt.
