IIALBERSTADT, the chief town of a circle in the government district of Magdeburg, Prussian province of Saxony, is situated in a beautiful and fertile country on the Holzemme, a tributary of the Bode, and at the junction point of four railways, 29 miles S.W. of Magdeburg. It has an antique appearance, and in a large number of the buildings the mediaeval wood-architecture is still preserved. About a mile and a halt distant from Halberstadt are the Spiegel'sche Berge, from which there is obtained a fine view of the surrounding country. The town possesses a cathedral in the Pointed style, dating from the 13th and 14th centuries, and restored between 1850 and 1871, containing a rich Gothic screen of the date of 1510, other interesting antiquities, beautiful glass windows, and several valuable paintings. Of the remaining churches the only one of special interest is the Liebfrauenkirche, a basilica in the later Romanesque style, dating from the 12th and 13th centuries, and restored in 1848, containing noteworthy wall paintings and figures in relief. Among the other old buildings may be mentioned the town-house, dating from the 14th century and restored in the 17th century ; the town hall orsypt, dating from the 15th century; and the Petershof, formerly the residence of the bishop, but now used as a custom house. The principal educational establishments are the gymnasium - the new buildings for which were opened in 1875 - with a library of 30,000 volumes ; the real-school of the first order ; the normal school, connected with which there is a deaf and dumb institute ; and the provincial trade school. Near the cathedral is a building called the temple of friendship which contains a collection -of-the portraits of the friends of the poet Gleim, who was .a resident in the town, and whose house was the resort of a large circle of poets and scholars. In the same neighbourhood a beautiful monument in the Early Pointed style has been elected to the memory of those who fell in the late Franco-German war. The principal manufactures of -the town are linen and woollen cloth, leather, paper, gloves, wadding, cigars, soap, oil, sugar, chemical products, brandy, and liqueurs. The population in 1875 was 27,757.

Halberstadt owes its origin to the foundation in the 9th century of the bishopric of which it became the seat. It received town rights from Bishop Arnulf in 998. It was burnt down in 1113 by the emperor Henry V., and in 1179 by Henry the Lion. At the peace of Westphalia in 1648 the bishopric was united as a principality to Brandenburg. At the Tilsit peace in 1807 it was joined to Westphalia, but in 1813 it again came into the possession of Prussia.

See Lucanus, Der Dons zu, Halberstadt, 1837, Wegweiser durelb Halberstadt, 2d edition 1866, and Die Liebfrauenkirche zu Halberstadt, 1872 ; Schafer, Inselbriften, and legenden, Halberstddaseher Daulen, 1864 ; Schmidt, UrIeundeitbuelt der Stadt Halberstadt, Halle, 1878.