HALLE (known as HALLE-AN-DER-SAALE, to distinguish it from the small town of Halle in Westphalia), a town in the Prus sian province of Saxony, situated in a sandy plain on the right bank of the Saale, which here divides into several arms, 21 M. N.W. from Leipzig by the railway to Magdeburg. Pop. ) 208,905.
Halle is first mentioned as a fortress erected on the Saale in 8o6. In 968 Halle, with the valuable salt works, was given by the emperor Otto I. to the newly founded archdiocese of Magdeburg, and in 981 Otto II. gave it a charter as a town. From the first there were separate jurisdictions for the Halloren and the Ger man settlers in the town. The conflict of interests and jurisdic tions led to the usual internecine strife during the middle ages, and both resisted the pretensions of the archbishops. In the i3th and 14th centuries it was a member of the Hanseatic League. Its liberty perished, however, as a result of the internal feud between the democratic gilds and the patrician panners. In 1478 a demagogue member of the town council, with his confederates opened the gates to the soldiers of the archbishop. The townsmen were subdued, and to hold them in check the archbishop built the castle of Moritzburg. Notwithstanding the efforts of the arch bishops of Mainz and Magdeburg, the Reformation found an entrance into the city in 1522. After the peace of Westphalia in 1648 the city came into the possession of the house of Branden burg.
Its situation at the junction of railway lines from Berlin, Bres lau, Leipzig, Frankfort-on-Main, the Harz country and Hanover, has developed the commercial and industrial importance of Halle. It consists of the old, inner town and two small towns, Glaucha in the south and Neumarkt in the north. The centre of the town is occupied by the market square, on which stand the mediaeval town hall (restored in 1883) and the Gothic Marienkirche, dating mainly from the i6th century, with two towers connected by a bridge. In the square is a bronze statue of Handel, the composer, a native of Halle. Among the churches, the St. Moritzkirche, dating from the 12th century, with fine wood carvings and sculp tures, and the cathedral (belonging since 1689 to the Reformed or Calvinistic church), built in the i6th century are worthy of note. The castle of Moritzburg, formerly the residence of the arch bishops of Magdeburg was destroyed by fire in the Thirty Years' War, with the exception of the left wing. The university was founded by the elector Frederick III. of Brandenburg (afterwards king of Prussia), in 1694, was closed by Napoleon in 1806 and again in 1813, but in 1815 was re-established and united with the university of Wittenberg. From the first it has been recognized as one cf the principal seats of Protestant theology, originally of the pietistic and latterly of the rationalistic and critical school. It is a famous centre of agricultural research. The salt-springs of Halle which have been known from a very early period, rise within the town and on an island in the Saale. The workmen employed at the salt works are known as the Halloren.
Among the industries of Halle are sugar refining, machine build ing, the manufacture of spirits, malt, chocolate, cocoa, rubber, confectionery, cement, paper, chicory, lubricating and illuminat ing oil, wagon grease, carriages and playing cards, printing, dye ing and coal mining (soft brown coal). The trade is considerable, the principal exports being machinery, raw sugar and petroleum. Halle is the seat of several important publishing firms. The Bibelanstalt (Bible institution) of von Castein is the central authority for the revision of Luther's Bible, of which it sells annually thousands of copies.