HALLE, hark, or HALLE AN DER SAALE, in-der-ale, Germany, a town and important railway junction of six lines, in Prussian Saxony, about 20 miles northwest of Leipzig, on the river Saale and a cluster of small islands. It consists of the medieval town with narrow, crooked streets and ancient dwell ings, separated by boulevards on the site of the old ramparts, form extensive and handsome suburbs.. Among notable public buildings are the restored medieval Rathaus; the °Red Tower" in the market place, a 15th century clock-tower; the decaying Moritzburg, formerly a citadel and archiepiscopal residence; the mod ern Gothic Ratskeller; the extensive buildings of the university (q.v.) • a deaf and dumb asy lum; a lunatic asylum; the 12th century Moritz kirche with fine wood carvings; the 16th cen tury Protestant cathedral; and the 16th century Gothic Church of the Virgin, with four towers and noted for its handsome interior. In the suburb of Glaucha the Waisenhaus, °orphan house," institution founded by the Reverend Francke about 1693 forms a small town in itself.
Besides the orphan asylum it includes different grade schools, attended by between 3,000 and 4,000 pupils; a printing and publishing estab lishment; and a laboratory where medicines are prepared and sold. The trade and manufac tures of Halle are extensive. The latter include starch, beet-root sugar, chemicals, oil, machin ery, printing and publishing, besides the cele brated ancient salt works. The salt workers form a distinctive colony with special exemp tions and privileges and are known as Hal loren? The chief public utilities are munici pally owned. Halle is mentioned as Halla as early as 806; in the 12th century it had de veloped considerable trade, and in the next two centuries was an important member of the Hanseatic League. In 1806 it was taken by the French; in 1813 it was annexed to Prussia. Pop. 180,834, mainly Evangelicals, Roman Catholics numbering nearly 9,000.