• Luthers death mask
    in the market church of Halle
  • Luther Portrait
    on the market church of Halle
  • The market church of Halle
    Justus Jonas introduced the Reformation here in 1541.
  • The market place of Halle
    with St. Mary´s church in the background
  • New Palace
    beneath the cathedral of Halle. Built betwee 1531 and 1539 from Cardinal Albrecht.

Contacts

Stadtmarketing Halle (Saale) GmbH 
Marktplatz 13/Marktschlösschen
06108 Halle (Saale) 
Telefon: +49 (0) 345 12 27 90 
Fax: +49 (0) 345 12 27 922 
info@stadtmarketing-halle.de 
www.stadtmarketing-halle.de

Luther Sites in Halle


Market church and St. Marys library

The Marktkirche is a late-Gothic hall church. It was built in the 16th century, replacing the Church of St. Gertrude and Church of St. Mary but keeping their paired towers. Justus Jonas introduced the Reformation here in 1541. Samuel Scheidt, Friedrich Wilhelm Zachow and Wilhelm Friedemann Bach worked as composers and organists at the church.

Martin Luther held sermons here on 5 August 1545 and on 6 and 26 January 1546. On display in a tower room are Luther’s original death mask, a cast of his hands and also the pulpit dating from Luther’s time.

read more



Moritzburg Foundation

Archbishop Ernst of Saxony laid the foundation stone for Moritzburg Palace in 1484, and moved into the new residence with his entourage in May 1503. By this point, the building was largely complete except for the palace chapel. Under Archbishop Ernst’s successor, Cardinal Albrecht, Moritzburg Palace was afforded prestigious furnishings with rich wooden panelling, magnificent tiled stoves, lavish carpets, murals and exquisite paintings by the great artists of the day, such as Cranach, Grünewald and Dürer.

The outer parts of this late-Gothic palace were refurbished and converted into modern museum rooms in 2008, restoring access to the north and west wings. The Saxony-Anhalt Museum of Art mounts various temporary exhibitions here in addition to its permanent exhibition focusing on 20th and 21st century art, which includes Hermann Gerlinger’s comprehensive collection of works by the Brücke artists and paintings from Lyonel Feininger’s Halle Cycle.


Francke Foundations

With four talers and 16 groschen in the collection box, theologian August Hermann Francke set about founding a ‘school city’ in 1698. Its era-defining reforms reflected Lutheran ideas and were taken across Europe as far as India and North America by Francke’s students. Up to 3,000 people lived and worked at the ‘school city’ in its heyday, and it was heralded by Francke’s contemporaries as the ‘New Jerusalem’. The Francke Foundations are still a vibrant promoter of education today, with museums, schools and institutes. The impressive ensemble is on UNESCO’s Tentative List of properties considered for World Heritage nomination. It includes the Historical Orphanage, Europe’s longest half-timbered building, the oldest civic museum room and an early modern library with stage-set shelving.


Cathedral and New Palace

From 1520 Cardinal Albrecht had the Dominican monastery church from around 1300 extended to serve as the collegiate church for his residence. Now a cathedral it has many outstanding sculptural features that attest to its once opulent Renaissance decoration – these include a striking arched gable, pulpit and 17 monumental pillar statues. After the Reformation, the cathedral served the ruling nobility as a court and palace church, during which time early baroque elements were added. From 1688 the Protestant congregation, which had expanded through the influx of religious refugees from the Palatinate, used the cathedral for its services.

Next to the cathedral is the New Palace, originally conceived by Cardinal Albrecht as a Catholic university, and built between 1531 and 1539 in the Renaissance style.

read more