Halle, Saxony-Anhalt

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Halle
Image:Coat of arms of Halle (Saale).svg	Image:Karte halle an der saale in deutschland.png

Country	Germany
State	Saxony-Anhalt
District	urban district
Population	238,014 source (2005)
Area	135.01 km²
Population density	1,763 /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)
Website	halle.de

Halle (also called Halle an der Saale in order to distinguish from Halle in North Rhine-Westphalia) is the largest town in the German Bundesland of Saxony-Anhalt. It lies in the southern part of the state, on the river Saale. Population: 243,045 (2001).

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1 History
2 Main sights
3 Miscellaneous
4 External links

[edit] History

Halle's early history is connected with harvesting of salt. The name Halle derives from the Celtic word for salt, like that of its namesake Halle in Westphalia, Hallein and Hallstatt in Austria and Schwäbisch Hall in Germany; while the name of the river Saale contains the Germanic root for salt. Salt-making has taken place in Halle since at least 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". 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.

Historic saltern in Halle, Sachsen-Anhalt.

GDR revolutionary monument "Vier Faeuste", demolished in 2003.

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Cathedral, a steepleless building, originally a church within a Dominican monastery (1271).
Halle-Neustadt, Mostly built in the 1960s Halle-Neustadt lies just to 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).

Image:Wasserturm-Nord Halle.jpg

[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 23 February 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.

Many Plattenbau houses can be found in Halle, especially in Halle-Neustadt.

Reinhard Heydrich one of the leading Nazis in World War II was born in the town. He was seen as the successor to Hitler. He was assassinated by Czech partisans in Prague in 1942.