MARKTKIRCHE UNSER LIEBEN FRAUEN

Notre-Dame church is located on the Place du Marché de Halle. It is an essential monument, which dominates the historic centre of the city. Built from 1529, at a turning point with the Renaissance, it is the city's most recent medieval church. It is one of the most beautiful late Gothic creations in Germany. Its pediment consists of a sober and slender portal, crowned by a first roof, surmounted by two arrows connected together by a pontoon. The latter have a very Renaissance appearance, while the two rear arrows, made of red brick, are resolutely more Gothic. Thus, the church offers a very different appearance according to the points of view, especially when one stands on the Marktplatz (in front of its main entrance) or on the square of the Hallmarkt (at the back). However, looking at it from the outside is not enough to measure its charisma. Indeed, you should take advantage of the long visiting hours to admire its architecture and interior decoration: its accentuated ribs and slender columns, among others. Fans of old stones and sculpture will also be able to walk around the altar to contemplate the altarpiece designed by Lucas Cranach the Elder. They will learn that Georg Friedrich Haendel was baptized in these places. They will also remain in stop in front of the ornate pulpit from which Martin Luther preached three times. They will then take the time to stop in front of the great organs that Johann Sebastian Bach inaugurated in 1716. Finally, they will not remain indifferent and may even be a little amused when they face the small contemporary statue of Christ, quite striking, trying to detach themselves from his cross. "There will never again be a church in the world with such an aura," said Oskar Rebling, organist at the Market Square church in the 20th century. Finally, note that the church houses the Sainte-Marie library, an exceptional reading space, which contains several tens of thousands of books from the 15th to 18th centuries.