Halle and the salt
Salt, once a gift from the gods, is still an indispensable part of life today.
The body needs six grams of white gold every day to function properly. Yet only five percent of the salt mined worldwide finds its way into our everyday lives as food. The remaining 95 percent is used by industry to produce plastics, among other things. Halle (Saale) owes its rich, above-ground salt deposits to the fact that more than 65 million years ago, a geological fracture occurred in the Halle area.
Layers of rock broke up in a wide strip and led to the Halle marketplace fault. During the uplift of the north-eastern clod, layers of Zechstein pushed out of the depths, which led to a brine upwelling and thus to the escape of brine (salty water) in today's city area.
After the early use of salt springs in the Bronze Age, four medieval brine fountains near the market square fault are historically attested.
The Gutjahrbrunnen fountain in Oleariusstraße is the last evidence of Halle's salt works in the "Thale zu Halle" and bears witness to this salty history. Halle salt is still produced today according to the old model by the Halloren, the Halle salt boilers, at the former Royal Prussian salt works founded outside the city in 1721.
The history of salt in Halle will be brought to life for locals and tourists in a lively and informative way from the end of 2025 once the construction work on the Saline Island has been completed. Further information here: Link to the salt museum.
Halle is one of the most important saltworks of the Middle Ages. The salt springs were granted to the Moritz Monastery in Magdeburg, which later became the archbishopric, by Emperor Otto I in 961. As a place of medieval salt production, the "Thal zu Halle" was thus the property of the Archbishops of Magdeburg.
In the early Middle Ages, the archbishop gave Solgut as a fief to the so-called Pfänner. This gave them the right to boil the brine mined in the valley into salt in specially built huts.
There were over 100 boiling pots on the medieval Thalsaline, which was located in the area of today's Hallmarkt. Production there was in the hands of the salt workers, who were known as Halloren in Halle. The Halloren brotherhood still maintains the rich tradition of Halle's salt workers today.
The Pfänner owe their prosperity and power to salt.
In1276, they joined together to form the Hallesche Pfännerschaft and formed a powerful urban upper class.
In1491, the Halloren in the Thal formed their own brotherhood, limited to their professional group. After protracted power struggles between the Pfänner in the 14th and 15th centuries, the importance of the Pfänner dwindled with the increasing decline of the Thalsaline and the establishment of a Royal Prussian salt works outside the city in the 18th century.
The brotherhood of Halloren, founded in 1491, has survived the times and still maintains the rich tradition of Halle's salt workers today.
- About 5,000 years ago:
First archaeological evidence of salt boiling in the Halle area. - 806:
First written mention of a Carolingian fort "Halla" (near a place called Halle). - 961:
Emperor Otto I donated the Gau Neletici to the Moritz Monastery in Magdeburg, together with its salt springs in Giebichenstein. - 1145:
First known mention of a salt count as an archbishop's official. - 1174-1184:
First documentary mention of the fountains in the Thale in Halle: Deutscher Born, Meteritzbrunnen and Gutjahrbrunnen. - 1263:
Magna Charta Hallensis: Archbishop Ruprecht agrees extensive rights of self-government with the representatives of the city of Halle. - 1386
The oldest surviving Thalrecht was written. - 1491:
In 1491, the "Corporis Christi" brotherhood receives documentary confirmation that it is allowed to hold memorial services and vigils in the Moritzkirche. "The right to hold the salt work. - 1524:
Re-founding of the Salzwirker-Brüderschaft im Thale zu Halle in honor of the Virgin Mary. - 1670:
"Das Saltz-Werck zu Halle in Sachsen" by Count Friedrich Hondorff contains the first collection of knowledge about the most important steps in salt production. - 1721:
The Royal Prussian Saltworks starts boiling on the island later named after it. - 1726:
"Das Saltz-Werck zu Halle in Sachsen" by Count Friedrich Hondorff contains the first collection of knowledge about the most important steps in salt production. - 1731:
As an innovation, brine pumping is started by a horse-driven hoist, the Pferdegöpel. - 1831:
As an innovation, brine pumping is started by a horse-driven hoist, the Pferdegöpel. - 1868-1869:
The boiling operation on the old "Thalsaline" ends and the Halle Pfännerschaft takes over the Royal Prussian - 1925-1926:
A 520 meter deep brine well is built at the Holzplatz. This still exists today. - 1964:
Industrial salt production in Halle is discontinued. - 1967:
The Halloren Museum is opened in the Clock House. - 1969:
Opening of the Salt Museum as the first industrial museum in the GDR. Attractions include the boiling and drying pans. - from 2020:
Opening of the Salt Museum as the first industrial museum in the GDR. Attractions include the boiling and drying pans. - 2024:
500th anniversary on the occasion of the "re-founding of the Brotherhood in Honor of the Virgin Mary".
