Halle (Saale) - Main Sights

Main Sights

• Giebichenstein Castle, first mentioned in 961, in the 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 has been a ruin afterwards for centuries. Partially reconstructed in 1901-1913, it is an Art Gallery today. The reconstruction was completed with the opening of new exposition 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 fire watch. The church owns as well the original death-mask of Martin Luther. The Marktkirche's four towers and the city's nearby Roter Turm (Red Tower) are 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, forms with the steples of St. Mary's Church the five towers marking the city’s silhouette.
  • Roland, originally (13th century) a wooden sculpture representing the 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 backyard building of the Old Town Hall (that was demolished in 1948/50 after the destruction of WWII, so the Ratshof is situated today directly on the market square).
  • Stadthaus, Neo-Renaissance building of 1891-1894
  • Yellow line, which runs over the market square, marking a geological fault line (Hallische Verwerfung).
• Handel House, first mentioned in 1558, birthplace of George Frederick Handel, a museum since 1948
• 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 in the south of the city centre.
• Francke Foundations, baroque buildings (including Europe‘s largest surving 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 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 century 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 Garden is an 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 wider public 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 where 35 graves dating back at about 2500-2000 B.C., the Neolithic period, are situated
• Racecourse in the Passendorf Meadows
• Halle-Neustadt, in the west of Halle, built in the 1960s as a socialist model city.