Halle an der Saale Travel Guide

Giant Wheel
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Halle Overview

Halle is the largest city in the German State of Saxony-Anhalt. It is also called Halle (Halle vacation rentals | Halle travel guide) an der Saale (literally Halle on the Saale river, and in some historic references simply Saale after the river) in order to distinguish it from Halle in North Rhine-Westphalia. The current official name of the city is Halle (Saale).

It is situated in the southern part of the state, along the river Saale which drains the surrounding plains and the greater part of the neighboring Free State of Thuringia located just to its south, and the Thuringian basin, northwards from the Thuringian Forest. Leipzig (Leipzig vacation rentals | Leipzig travel guide), one of the other major cities of eastern Germany, is only 40 km away.

Main Sights in Halle

• Giebichenstein Castle, first mentioned in 961, is west of the city centre on a hill above the Saale river.
• Moritzburg (Moritzburg vacation rentals | Moritzburg travel guide), a newer palace, was built in 1503. It was the residence of the archbishops of Magdeburg (Magdeburg vacation rentals | Magdeburg travel guide), was destroyed in the Thirty Years' War, and was then a ruin for centuries; rebuilt in 1904. Today it is an Art Gallery.
• The Cathedral, a steepleless building, was originally a church within a Dominican monastery (1271).
• Halle-Neustadt, most of it built in the 1960s, is situated in the west of Halle (Halle vacation rentals | Halle travel guide). The complex is an example of GDR socialist housing development, as well as an example of successful growth.

Industrial Heritage

The 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.

Salt, also known as White Gold, was extracted from four "Borns" (well-like structures). The four Borns/brine named Gutjahrwell, Meteritzwell, German Borne and Hackeborn, are located around the Hallmarket (or "Under Market"), now a market square 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, who wore a unique uniform with eighteen golden buttons, were known as Halloren.

Within East Germany, Halle's chemical industry, now mainly shut down, was of great importance. The two main companies were Buna and Leuna, and Halle-Neustadt (Halle Newtown) was built in the 1960s to accommodate the employees of these two factories.

Science and Culture

The University of Halle was founded here in 1694. It is now combined with the University of Wittenberg (Wittenberg vacation rentals | Wittenberg travel guide) and is called the Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg. The medical school there was founded by Friedrich Hoffmann (1660–1742), Hoffmann's anogyne or Hoffmanns Tropfen.

The famous Baroque composer Georg Friedrich Händel was born in Halle in 1685, where he spent the first 17 years of his life. The house where he lived is now a museum and houses an exhibition about his life. To celebrate the composer, Halle stages an annual Handel festival every June.

The German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina is one of the oldest and most respective scientific societies in Germany.

Halle accommodates Germany's oldest Evangelic Bible college, known as Marien Bibliothek, with 27,000 titles.

In the past Halle was a centre 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 in the mid 18th century. Henry Muhlenberg's son, Frederick Muhlenberg, who was the first Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, was a graduate of Halle University.

The Silver Treasure of the Halloren is displayed occasionally at the Technical Museum Saline, Mansfelder Street 52. It is a unique collection of silver and gold goblets dating back to 1266. The ancient craft of "Schausieden"( boiling of the brine) can be observed there too.

The Beatles Museum, Exhibition Beatles until 1970, is open from Wed–Sun 10 AM – 8 PM at Alter Markt 12.

The Landesmuseum für Vorgeschichte houses the Nebra sky disk, a significant (though unproven) Bronze-age find with astrological significance.

Halle Zoo contributes to the EAZA breeding programme, in particular for the Angolan Lion and the Malaysian Tiger. Halle is also known for its thriving coypu (or nutria) population, which is native to South America.

Weather: according to Eurostat (Statistics in Focus 82/2008), Halle is the rainiest city in Europe with 266 rainy days per year.

[ source: Wikipedia ]