Halle - Dom

In the "Chronicon Moissiacense" 806 the place Halle is mentioned for the first time as "Halla". In 968, Otto I founded the Archdiocese of Magdeburg, to which Halle belonged until 1680. Around 1120 the city was extensively expanded. This was possible due to the increasing salt trade and the wealth associated with it. Initially, this was managed by archbishops. From the end of the 12th century the Guild of the Panners (salt makers) was formed. This gave rise to a self-confident bourgeoisie, which concluded a contract with Archbishop Rupert of Magdeburg in 1263, according to which the archbishop was not permitted to build any castles within a mile radius. The Panners determined the politics of the city for centuries. Halle was first mentioned in a document in 1281 as a member of the Hanseatic League, and in 1310 the city's self-government was contractually recorded. In 1341 the construction of a strong tower between the scales and the town hall began, which was used until 1835 to securely accommodate the city's privileges.

In 1478 ended the approximately 200-year city independence. In 1484, Archbishop Ernst II (1464–1513) had Moritzburg Castle built as a fortified residential palace in the north-west corner of the city and ceremoniously moved into it in 1503. It was actually supposed to be a stronghold against Halle's self-confident citizens, the salt workers. Until 1680, Halle was the capital and residence of the Archdiocese of Magdeburg.

Halle Cathedral was originally founded in 1271 as a Dominican monastery and completed in 1330 with a simple three-nave monastery church.

Around 1520, the then Archbishop Albert von Brandenburg had the exterior of the church remodeled and fitted with round gables. In 1523 it was rededicated as the collegiate church of the archbishopric. It was probably first called a cathedral at this time, although it was never the seat of the archbishopric. Beginning in 1523, Albert also commissioned artists to embellish the interior.

As an opponent of Martin Luther, Albert was expelled from Halle in 1541 and took the portable furnishings of the church with him to Aschaffenburg, where they remain today. His secular successors as sovereigns used the church as a chapel for their court and castle. The last of these rulers, Augustus, Duke of Saxe-Weißenfels, added galleries and a larger altar in the mid-17th century and changed the style of the church toward early Baroque. In 1680, Frederick William, Elector of Brandenburg, made the church a parish church, and in 1702, the young Georg Friedrich Handel was hired for a year's trial.