Halle (Saale)

Halle (Saale), or simply Halle (; from the 15th to the 17th century: ''Hall in Sachsen''; until the beginning of the 20th century: ''Halle an der Saale'' ; from 1965 to 1995: ''Halle/Saale'') is the largest city of the

German

state

of

Saxony-Anhalt

, the fifth most populous city in the area of former East Germany after ( East)

Berlin

,

Leipzig

,

Dresden

and

Chemnitz

, as well as the 31st largest city of Germany, and with around 239,000 inhabitants, it is slightly more populous than the state capital of

Magdeburg

. Together with Leipzig, the largest city of

Saxony

, Halle forms the polycentric Leipzig-Halle conurbation. Between the two cities, in Schkeuditz, lies Leipzig/Halle International Airport. The Leipzig-Halle conurbation is at the heart of the larger Central German Metropolitan Region.

Halle lies in the south of Saxony-Anhalt, in the Leipzig Bay, on the River Saale (a tributary of the

Elbe

), which is the third longest river flowing entirely in Germany after the Weser and the Main. The White Elster flows into the Saale in the southern borough of Silberhöhe. Halle is the fourth largest city in the Thuringian-Upper Saxon dialect area after Leipzig, Dresden and Chemnitz.

Halle is an economic and educational center in central-eastern Germany. The Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg, with campuses in Halle and Wittenberg, is the largest university in Saxony-Anhalt, one of the oldest universities in Germany, and a nurturing ground for the local startup ecosystem. The university hospital of Halle (''Universitätsklinikum Halle (Saale)'') is the largest hospital in the state.

Geography

Halle (Saale) is located in the southern part of

Saxony-Anhalt

in central

Germany

, along the river

Saale

which drains the surrounding plains and the greater part of the neighbouring Free State of Thuringia just to its south, and the Thuringian basin, northwards from the Thuringian Forest.

Leipzig

, one of Germany's major cities, is only away.

History

Name

Halle's early history is connected with the harvesting of salt. The name of the river

Saale

contains the Germanic root for salt, and salt-harvesting has taken place in Halle since at least the Bronze Age (2300–600 BC).

From 1965 to 1995, the official name was Halle/Saale.

Middle Ages until industrialisation

The earliest documented mention of Halle dates from AD 806. It became a part of the Archbishopric of Magdeburg in the 10th century and remained so until 1680, when the Margraviate of Brandenburg annexed it together with

Magdeburg

as the Duchy of Magdeburg, while it was an important location for

Martin Luther

's

Reformation

in the 16th century. Cardinal Albert of Mainz (Archbishop of Magdeburg from 1513 to 1545) also impacted on the town in this period. According to historic documents, the city of Halle became a member of the Hanseatic League at least as early as 1281.

Halle became a center for Pietism, a movement encouraged by King Frederick William I of Prussia (reigned 1713–1740) because it caused the area's large Lutheran population to be more inclined to Fredrick William I's religion (Calvinism), as well as more loyal to the Prussian king instead of to the decentralized feudal system. By the 1740s Halle had established many orphanages as well as schools for the wealthy in the sober style Pietism encouraged. This Halle education was the first time the "modern education" system was established. The Halle Pietists also combatted poverty.

During the War of the Fourth Coalition, French and Prussian forces clashed in the Battle of Halle on 17 October 1806. The fighting moved from the covered bridges on the city's west side, through the streets and market place, to the eastern suburbs.

In 1815 Halle became part of the Prussian Province of Saxony.

World War II (1939–1945)

During World War II, KZ-Außenlager Birkhahn, a subcamp of Buchenwald was in Halle, where prisoners from Poland, Czechoslovakia, the Soviet Union, France, Netherlands and other nations were forced to work in the Siebel aircraft plants, making combat aircraft. The plant was later dismantled. In Ammendorf, a large factory owned by produced mustard gas.

Near the end of World War II, there were two bombing raids carried out against the town: the first on 31 March 1945, the second a few days later. The first attack took place between the railway station and the city's centre, and the second bombing was in the southern district. It killed over 1,000 inhabitants and destroyed 3,600 buildings. Among them, the Market Church, St. George Church, the Old Town Hall, the municipal theatre, historic buildings on Bruederstrasse and on Grosse Steinstrasse, and the city cemetery.

On 17 April 1945, American soldiers occupied Halle, and the Red Tower was set on fire by artillery and destroyed. The Market Church and the Church of St. George received more hits. However, the city was spared further damage because an aerial bombardment was canceled, after former naval officer Felix von Luckner negotiated the city's surrender to the American army. In July, the Americans withdrew and the city was occupied by the Red Army.

German Democratic Republic (1949–1990)

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.

Since German unity (after 1990)

When

Saxony-Anhalt

was re-established as a '' Bundesland'' in 1990,

Magdeburg

, not Halle, became the capital.

Synagogue attack

On 9 October 2019, two people were killed in a terrorist attack. The suspect tried but failed to enter a synagogue in which a service was being held for Yom Kippur. He killed a pedestrian directly outside the synagogue and a man in a nearby Turkish kebab shop. The office of the mayor of Halle declared an "amok situation" and informed the local community to stay at home via the German emergency alert system. Police arrested one suspect in nearby Landsberg.

The Federal Prosecutor (Generalbundesanwalt) classified the attack as an act of right-wing terrorism stemming from antisemitism. As a result, security measures at Jewish facilities were increased.

Population

Population of foreign residents:

Sights

*Halloren Chocolate Factory and visitors' centre, Germany's oldest chocolate factory still in use.
*Giebichenstein Castle, first mentioned in 961, is north of the city centre on a hill above the Saale river, with a museum in the upper castle and the Burg Giebichenstein University of Art and Design in the lower castle.
* Moritzburg, a newer castle, was built between 1484 and 1503. It was the residence of the Archbishops of Magdeburg, was destroyed in the Thirty Years' War, and was a ruin for centuries afterward. Partially reconstructed in 1901–1913, it is an art gallery today. The reconstruction was completed with the opening of new exhibition rooms designed by the Spanish architects Sobejano and Nieto in 2010.
*''Neue Residenz'' (New Residence), an early Renaissance palace (1531–1537)
*Market square with
** Market Church of St. Mary (Marktkirche), built in 1529–1554, using elements of two medieval churches, St. Gertrude's Church dating back to the 11th century and the older St. Mary's Church from the 12th century. The church has four steeples, the two western octagonal ones are called Blue Towers because of their dark blue slate roofing. The other two ''Hausmannstürme'' are connected by a bridge and on this bridge was the city's fire watch. The church owns the original death-mask of

Martin Luther

. The Marktkirche's four towers is a landmark symbol of the city.
**''Roter Turm'' (Red Tower), originally built as

campanile

of the older St. Mary's Church between 1418 and 1503, a landmark of Halle, with the steeples of St. Mary's Church forms the five towers marking the city's skyline.
**''Roland'', originally (13th century) a wooden sculpture representing urban liberty (after an uprising in the city, a cage was placed around it between 1481 and 1513, a reminder of the restrictions). Today's sculpture is a sandstone replica made in 1719.
**''Marktschlösschen'', late Renaissance building, gallery and tourist information office
**Monument to George Frideric Handel, 1859 by Hermann Heidel
**''Ratshof'' (Council's Yard), built in 1928/29 as a backyard building of the Old Town Hall (demolished in 1948/50 after the destruction of World War II, so the ''Ratshof'' is situated today directly on the market square).
**''Stadthaus'', Renaissance-Revival building of 1891–1894
**''Yellow line'', which runs over the market square, marking a geological fault line, the ''Hallische Verwerfung''.
*Handel House, first mentioned in 1558, birthplace of George Frideric Handel, a museum since 1948
*Wilhelm Friedemann Bach House, home of composer Wilhelm Friedemann Bach, now a museum
*Old Market square with Donkey's Fountain (1906/13), referring to a local legend
*Remains of the town fortifications: the Leipzig Tower (''Leipziger Turm'') (15th century) in the east and remains of the town wall to the south of the city centre.
*Sculpture dedicated to

Lenin

in the Pestalozzi Park.
*Francke Foundations, Baroque buildings (including Europe's largest surviving half-timbered building) and historical collections
*''Stadtgottesacker'', a Renaissance cemetery, laid out in 1557, in the style of an Italian ''camposanto''
* ''Saline'' Museum is dedicated to Halle's salt-works and the corporation of salt workers ''(Halloren)''
*Cathedral ''(Dom)'', a steepleless building, was originally a church within a Dominican monastery (1271), converted into a cathedral by cardinal Albert of Hohenzollern. Since 1688, it has been the church of the Reformed parish.
*Saint Maurice Church, late Gothic building (1388–1511)
*Saint Ulrich Church, late Gothic church of the Servite Order (15th century), today used as a concert hall
*Church of the former village of Böllberg (Romanesque, with late Gothic painted wooden ceiling)
*Numerous bourgeois town houses, including the ''Ackerbürgerhof'' (15th – 18th centuries with remains from the 12th century),

Christian Wolff

’s House (today City Museum), Graseweg House (half-timbered building)
* State Museum of Prehistory where the

Nebra sky disk

is exhibited
*''Volkspark'' (1906/07), former meeting house of the Social Democrats
*Theatres:
**''Halle Opera House''
**''Neues Theater''
**''Puppentheather''
**''Thalia Theater'', the only theatre for children in

Saxony-Anhalt

**''Steintor Bühne''
*Parks and gardens:
**''Botanical Garden'' of the Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg, founded in 1698 in the former gardens of the Archbishops of Magdeburg, belonging to the Garden Dreams project
**''Reichardts Garten'' is a historic park, part of the Garden Dreams project. Laid out in 1794 by

Johann Friedrich Reichardt

(1752–1814) as an English garden, becoming the "accommodation of Romanticism". It changed ownership several times and the city of Halle bought the park in 1903 to give the public wider access.
**''Peißnitz Island''
**''Pestalozzi Park''
**Zoological Garden ''(Bergzoo)'', situated on the ''Reilsberg'' hill.
*''Galgenberge'', location of the gallows from the 14th to the end of the 18th century
*''Klausberge'', porphyry hill, named after a chapel of the St. Nicholas' brotherhood, panoramic view over the Saale Valley,

Eichendorff

's bench
*''Dölauer Heide'' forest, including ''Bischofs Wiese'' with 35 graves dating back to about 2500–2000 BC, the Neolithic period
*Racecourse in the Passendorf Meadows
*''Halle-Neustadt'', to the west of Halle, built beginning 1964 (foundation stone ceremony 15 July 1964) as a socialist model city. Still has several monuments from the GDR, as a giant mural dedicated to

Lenin

.

Image gallery

File:Marktplatz Halle 2010.jpg, Market square
File:Stadthaus-Halle.jpg, Stadthaus
File:Vor dem Eingangsbereich - Stadtcenter Rolltreppe - Ladengeschäfte im Stadtzentrum von Halle Saale - panoramio.jpg, Old town
File:Paulusviertel Pauluskirche.jpg, View over Paulusviertel
File:Giebichenstein4.jpg, Giebichenstein Castle from Kröllwitz
File:Moritzburg-neu.jpg, Moritzburg (Halle)
File:Landesmuseums für Vorgeschichte Sachsen-Anhalt in Halle - Außenansicht.jpg, Halle State Museum of Prehistory
File:Joliot-Curie-Platz - panoramio (3).jpg, Halle Opera House
File:2014 04 Händelhaus.jpg, Handel House
File:Neue Klausbrücke, im Hintergrund die 5 Türme - panoramio.jpg, Wilhelm Friedemann Bach House to the left
File:2007-05 Halle (Saale) 02.jpg, Halloren Chocolate Factory
File:ZooBlick.JPG, View to Reilberg of Zoo Halle
File:Hochstraße Halle.jpg, View to Halle-Neustadt
File:Halle (Saale), Blick auf Kröllwitz.jpg, View over Kröllwitz

Industrial heritage

Salt, also known as ''white gold'', was extracted from four "Borns" (well-like structures). The four Borns/brine named Gutjahrbrunnen, Meteritzbrunnen, Deutscher Born and Hackeborn, were 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 silver buttons, were known as ''Halloren'', and this name was later used for the chocolates in the shape of these buttons.

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.

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

Science and culture

Baroque

composer

Georg Friedrich Händel

(later ''George Frideric Handel'') was born in Halle in 1685 and spent the first 17 years of his life in the city. The house where he lived is now a museum about his life. To celebrate his music, Halle has staged a Handel Festival since 1922, annually in June since 1952. The

''Franckesche Stiftungen''

(Francke Foundations) are home to the ', which was founded before the year 1116 and is one of the oldest boys' choirs in the world.

The University of Halle was founded here in 1694. It is now combined with the University of Wittenberg and called the ''Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg''. The university's medical school was established by

Friedrich Hoffmann

. Its

botanical garden

, the Botanische Garten der Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg, dates back to 1698. Halle's German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina is the oldest and one of the most respected scientific societies in

Germany

. Halle is also home to Germany's oldest Protestant church library, known as the , with 27,000 titles. The seat of the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology, one of the world's largest social anthropological research institutions and a part of the Max Planck Society, is in Halle.

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. Muhlenberg is now called the first Patriarch of the Lutheran Church in America. He and his son,

Frederick Muhlenberg

, who was the first Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, were graduates of Halle University.

The Silver Treasure of the ''Halloren'' is displayed occasionally at the Technical Museum Saline. 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 State Museum of Prehistory 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

.

With writers such as

Heine

,

Eichendorff

, Schleiermacher,

Tieck

and

Novalis

the town was a vibrant scene of the German Romanticism. Also

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

was a regular guest at the house of his close friend

Johann Friedrich Reichardt

.

German-American expressionist painter Lyonel Feininger worked in Halle on an invitation by the city from 1929 to 1931. As one of eleven views of the city termed ''Halle Cycle'', he painted in 1931 ''Die Türme über der Stadt'' (The towers above the city), which is now in the

Museum Ludwig

in Cologne. This painting appeared on a 55

eurocent

stamp on 5 December 2002 as a part of the series “Deutsche Malerei des 20. Jahrhunderts” (German painting of the 20th century).

File:Halleuniplatz.JPG, Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg
File:Halle (Saale) University Library Building (Feb-2006).jpg, University and State Library
File:Kunst-Campus der Burg Giebichenstein Kunsthochschule Halle.jpg, Burg Giebichenstein University of Art and Design
File:Leopoldina Halle (Saale) Draufsicht.jpg, German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina
File:Franckesche Stiftungen Innenhof 2015.jpg, Francke Foundations
File:Hochhäuser Weinberg Campus.jpg, Weinberg Campus Technology Park
File:Laternenfest 1.jpg, The Laternenfestival at Peißnitzisland

Transport history

Ludwig Wucherer

made Halle an important rail hub in central Germany. In 1840 he opened the Magdeburg-Halle-Leipzig line, completing a connection between

Magdeburg

and

Dresden

. In 1841–1860, other lines to Erfurt, Kassel and Anhalt Railway, Berlin followed.

The centrepiece of Halle's urban public transport system is the Trams in Halle (Saale), Halle (Saale) tramway network. It includes the world's first major electric-powered inner-city tram line, which was opened in 1891. Halle (Saale) Hauptbahnhof is the main railway station.

Halle's prominence as a railway centre grew with the arrival of the Erfurt-Leipzig/Halle high-speed railway. Leipzig is also connected to this route, but since it is a terminus station (though the Leipzig City Tunnel is currently under construction, the route will be shared with S-Bahn trains, making it unlikely that it will be used as a through station for Berlin-Munich trains), Halle is more likely to be used as an intermediate stop for Berlin-Munich trains. The completion of the Nuremberg–Erfurt high-speed railway also provided a further impetus to use the route.

Leipzig/Halle Airport (opened in 1927) is an international airport located in Schkeuditz, Saxony, and serves both Leipzig, Saxony, and Halle, Saxony-Anhalt. it is Germany's 11th largest airport by passengers, handling more than 2.57 million mainly with flights to European leisure destinations. In terms of cargo traffic, the airport is the fifth-busiest in Europe and the second-busiest in Germany after Frankfurt Airport.

File:Hbf Halle (Saale).jpg, Halle (Saale) Hauptbahnhof, the main railway station
File:Schkopau Strassenbahn.jpg, Trams in Halle (Saale), Tram in Halle
File:Leipzig-Halle Airport Check-in.jpg, Leipzig/Halle Airport

Sports

The football team ''Hallescher FC Wacker 1900'' had some regional importance before World War II. In the German Championship ''Wacker'' reached the semi-finals in 1921, and the quarter-finals in 1928. The successor team became East German champions in 1949 and 1952 under the names of ''ZSG Union'' and ''BSG Turbine Halle''. From these evolved today's ''Turbine Halle'' and ''Hallescher FC''. In the era of the German Democratic Republic, the latter club (as ''Chemie Halle'' ) was a mainstay in the first division and won the Cup tournament in 1956 and 1962. The most prominent player was 72-times international Bernd Bransch, who was with ''Chemie'' in the 1960s and 1970s. These days, ''Hallescher FC'' usually plays in the third division.

The general sports club ', originating from ''Chemie Halle'', created a notable number of Olympic gold medallists and world champions, mainly in nautical and watersports, e.g., swimmer Kornelia Ender won four Olympic gold medals in 1976 and Andreas Hajek won four rowing world championships between 1998 and 2001. The basketball team of the club – these days known as ''Lions'' and focusing on the woman's team which plays in the national first division – won five men's and 10 women's championships of the German Democratic Republic.
The Hallesher FC's location is extremely close to a train station.

Notable people

A–K

*Martha, (1578–1612) in Halle/Saale, Queen of Halle (1597–1612)
*Bernd Baselt (1934–1993), university professor whose published catalogue led to the modern day opus designator (Händel-Werke-Verzeichnis, HWV) which is now commonly used when referring to the works of George Frideric Handel.
*Oswald Boelcke (1891–1916), World War I German flying ace, born near Halle
*Ursula Brömme (1931–2001), operatic soprano
*Thuon Burtevitz (b. 1973), composer
*Georg Cantor (1845–1918), mathematician and professor at the university of Halle
*Waldemar Cierpinski, East German athlete and two times Olympic Champion, lives in Halle
*Susanne Daubner (b. 1962), German news and television presenter
*Walter Eisfeld (1905–1940), Nazi SS concentration camp commandant
*Dorothea Christiane Erxleben of Quedlinburg (1715–1762) received her Doctor of Medicine degree in 1754 from the Medical Department of Martin Luther University (MLU)
*Gerhard Feige, (b. 1951), bishop of Magdeburg
*Lyonel Feininger (1871–1956), painter who created several famous images in Halle, including Der Dom in Halle.
*August Hermann Francke (1663–1727), Lutheran Pietist theologian at the University of Halle and founder of the Halle Orphan House complex
*Hans-Dietrich Genscher (1927–2016), former Vice Chancellor and longest serving Foreign Minister of Germany, was born in Reideburg, which belongs to Halle today
*Moritz Goetze (b. 1964), pop-artist, painter, sculptor, born and lives in Halle
* Paul Götze (1903–1948), Nazi SS officer at Auschwitz and Buchenwald concentration camps executed for war crimes
*Siegwart Horst Günther (1925–2015), 'father of the anti-uranium-weapons movement in Germany', born in Halle
*

Georg Friedrich Händel

(1685–1759),

Baroque

composer, born and raised in Halle
*Johannes Hassebroek (1910–1977), Nazi SS commandant of Gross-Rosen concentration camp was born in the city
*Carola Helbing-Erben, textile artist
*Yoan Pablo Hernández, Cruiserweight (boxing), Cruiserweight boxing champion (immigrated from Cuba)
*Johann Georg Ludwig Hesekiel (1819–1874), journalist
*Reinhard Heydrich (1904–1942), one of the leading Nazi Germany, Nazis in World War II and main architects of the Holocaust
*Nickel Hoffmann, mastermason, worked over 30 years in Halle, including the Market Church and the Composanto

*Friedrich Ludwig Jahn (1778–1852), theology student of University Halle 1796–1800, went into hiding and used a porphyry cave along the river Saale at the Klausberge, this cave later was known as the "Jahn-Höhle" (Cave)
* Thomas Kesselhut (1991–), successful Twitch (service), Twitch streamer known for Hearts of Iron IV was born and raised in Halle
* Christian Knaut, (1656–1716), doctor, botanist and librarian
*Manfred Kuschmann, East German athlete and European Athletics Championship, European Champion of 1974 lived in Halle

L–Z

*August Lafontaine (1758–1831), a writer of sentimental novels hugely popular in their time, died in Halle
*Blessed Carl Lampert, priest, beheaded by Nazis in World War II at Halle
* Marita Lange (b. 1943), athlete
*Georg Listing (b. 1987), bassist from the

Magdeburg

-based band, Tokio Hotel
*Hans Litten (1903–1938), German lawyer who represented opponents of the Nazis at important political trials between 1929 and 1932
* Karl Freiherr von Müffling (1775–1851), Prussian general field marshall
*

Frederick Muhlenberg

(1750–1801), the first Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, graduated at Halle University
*George Müller (1805–1898), coordinator of orphanages in Bristol, England
*Johann Friedrich Naue (1787–1858), classical composer
*Kai Pflaume (b. 1967), German television presenter, born in Halle
*Richard Raatzsch (b. 1957), philosopher and professor of practical philosophy
*

Johann Friedrich Reichardt

(1752–1814), composer, writer and music critic, lived in Halle. He was a close friend of

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

.
*Samuel Scheidt (1587–1654), early

Baroque

composer and organist was both born and spent the majority of his life and career in Halle.
*Fabian von Schlabrendorff (1907–1980), lawyer, officer, judge and member of the German resistance.
*Friedrich Daniel Ernst Schleiermacher (1768–1834), university preacher and professor of theology to the University of Halle, where he remained until 1807.
*Hellmut Schnackenburg (1902–1974), conductor
*Albrecht Schröter (b. 1955), politician (SPD) and mayor of Jena
*Ullrich Sierau (b. 1956), politician (SPD) and mayor of Dortmund

*Leonhard Sohncke (1842–1897), in Munich, mathematician and professor of physics
*Georg Wilhelm Steller (1709–1746), a botanist, zoologist, physician and explorer of Siberia, Kamchatka and Alaska.
*Hans-Christian Ströbele (b. 1939), politician (Greens) and member of the Bundestag
*Ľudovít Štúr (1815–1856), Slovak national leader, linguist and writer, studied at the University of Halle in 1838–1840.
*Daniel Gottlob Türk (1756–1813), Classical music, classical composer, was born in Halle in 1750, and was a professor at the University of Halle.
*Andreas Wank (b. 1988), German ski jumper, born in Halle.
*Anja Daniela Wagner (b. 1969), operatic mezzo-soprano
*

Ludwig Wucherer

(1790–1861), elected councillor.

Twin towns – sister cities

Halle is Sister city, twinned with:

* Oulu, Finland (1968)
* Linz, Austria (1975)
* Grenoble, France (1976)
* Ufa, Russia (1977)
* Karlsruhe, Germany (1987)
* Jiaxing, China (2009)
* Savannah, Georgia, Savannah, United States (2011)
* Gyumri, Armenia (2020)

Friendly cities

Halle also has friendly relations with:
* Coimbra, Portugal (1976)
* Hildesheim, Germany (1990)

Around Halle

Nearby towns

Halle (Saale) and Leipzig are the two centres of the Central German Metropolitan Region with more than 2.4 million people.

File:Leipzig Fockeberg Zentrum.jpg,

Leipzig

, Germany's eight largest city
File:Merseburger Schloss 2006.jpg, Merseburg borders Halle
File:Wittenberg,Luthers Hochzeit.jpg, Wittenberg
File:Lutherstadt_Eisleben_Markt.jpg, Eisleben

References

Bibliography

External links

*

{{Authority control

Halle (Saale),
Cities in Saxony-Anhalt
Province of Saxony
Bezirk Halle
Members of the Hanseatic League