Halle

Halle’s downtown square and marketplace, the heart of the old town, is about four blocks square, with streetcar tracks running here and there. Really had to be careful, because it was impossible to predict which way they were going next. A total of 14 streets and passage-ways radiate from this central area of the town. At the edge of the marketplace is the Marienkirche, Mary’s Church (begun 1529), with two rounded steeples on the marketplace end, and two very tall, slim pointed steeples at the parking lot end of the church.

The clock in the Red Tower (built in 1529), strikes the hour with grand enthusiasm. The historic landmarks include a bronze statue of the composer George Frideric Handel (born in 1685, died in London in 1759), perhaps Halle’s most famous “favorite son.” He was born within a few blocks of the marketplace, and his home is open to the public.