Even from afar, you can recognise the striking sacred buildings that shape the silhouette of the former episcopal city on the northern edge of the Harz. At the centre lies the cathedral square, with the ensemble of St. Stephen’s and St. Sixtus Cathedral and the Romanesque Church of Our Lady. Modelled after French cathedrals, it is considered one of the finest Gothic buildings in Germany. In the cathedral treasury, you will find more than 600 artworks and liturgical objects from several centuries – one of the most significant church treasuries in the world.
At the foot of the cathedral begins the historic old town. Narrow alleys, cobblestones and leaded glass windows recall its long history. Many of the half-timbered houses date back to the 16th century. Below the former bishop’s palace, you can still discover traces of the once large Jewish community, which was one of the largest in Central Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries.
In the city, history and the present meet in many places. The Gleimhaus, one of the oldest literary museums in Germany, is dedicated to the poet and Enlightenment thinker Johann Wilhelm Ludwig Gleim. The Municipal Museum shows the city’s development through the centuries, while the Heineanum Ornithological Museum presents scientific collections on the region’s wildlife. The Schraube Museum takes you into the domestic culture around 1900, and at the Berend Lehmann Museum, you can learn more about the history of the Jewish community.
If you enjoy theatre, music or dance, you’ll find a diverse programme of drama, opera, ballet and symphonic concerts at the Northern Harz City League Theatre. Since the year 2000, the John Cage Organ Project “ORGAN²/ASLSP” has been sounding in the Church of St. Burchard. This artwork is designed to last 639 years, making it one of the most extraordinary organ projects in the world.
For leisure and activity, the Halberstadt Leisure and Sports Centre offers a sauna, sports and swimming facilities, along with the Zuckerfabrik cinema complex and the HaWoGe Games Magazine with an accessible indoor playground. In the animal park, you’ll encounter animals from both local and distant regions.
South of the city lies the Spiegelsberge Landscape Park, which has attracted visitors for over 250 years. The grounds consist of meadows, forests, winding paths and small grottos. Particularly impressive is the baroque hunting lodge with the world’s oldest giant wine barrel in its cellar. It holds 144,000 litres and was entered into the Guinness Book of Records in 2008.
Just outside Halberstadt, on the way to the Harz mountains, lie the rock dwellings in Langenstein. Rooms carved into the rock, doors, curtained windows and small gardens bear witness to the former living culture of this region.
Halberstadt has many sides – from medieval architecture to modern art, from quiet corners to grand stages. Each of these traces tells a piece of history that you can discover for yourself.
