Hall in Tirol
Encyclopedia
Hall in Tirol is a town in the Innsbruck-Land
Innsbruck-Land
The Bezirk Innsbruck Land is an administrative district in Tyrol, Austria. It encloses the Statutarstadt Innsbruck, and borders Bavaria in the north, the district Schwaz in the east, South Tyrol in Italy to the south, and the district of Imst in the west.Area of the district is 1,990.09 km², with...
district of Tyrol
Tyrol (state)
Tyrol is a state or Bundesland, located in the west of Austria. It comprises the Austrian part of the historical region of Tyrol.The state is split into two parts–called North Tyrol and East Tyrol–by a -wide strip of land where the state of Salzburg borders directly on the Italian province of...
, Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
. Located at an altitude of 574 m, about 5 km (3 mi) east of the state's capital Innsbruck
Innsbruck
- Main sights :- Buildings :*Golden Roof*Kaiserliche Hofburg *Hofkirche with the cenotaph of Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor*Altes Landhaus...
in the Inn valley, it has a population of about 12,700 (Jan 2011).
History
Hall in the County of TyrolCounty of Tyrol
The County of Tyrol, Princely County from 1504, was a State of the Holy Roman Empire, from 1814 a province of the Austrian Empire and from 1867 a Cisleithanian crown land of Austria-Hungary...
was first mentioned as a salina (saltern
Saltern
Saltern is a word with a number of differing meanings. In English archaeology, a saltern is an area used for salt making, especially in the East Anglian fenlands....
) near Thaur
Thaur
Thaur is a municipality in the district of Innsbruck-Land and is located 5 km east of Innsbruck between Rum, Austria and Hall in Tirol. As a matter of fact that Thaur is not far away from the capital it is a popular area of settlement nowadays but the old village core is still intact.Settlement of...
castle in a 1232 deed. The current name dates back to 1256, similar to Halle
Halle, Saxony-Anhalt
Halle is the largest city in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt. It is also called Halle an der Saale in order to distinguish it from the town of Halle in North Rhine-Westphalia...
, Schwäbisch Hall
Schwäbisch Hall
Schwäbisch Hall is a town in the German state of Baden-Württemberg and capital of the district of Schwäbisch Hall. The town is located in the valley of the river Kocher in the north-eastern part of Baden-Württemberg....
or Hallstatt
Hallstatt
Hallstatt, Upper Austria is a village in the Salzkammergut, a region in Austria. It is located near the Hallstätter See . At the 2001 census it had 946 inhabitants...
referring to the Celtic
Celtic languages
The Celtic languages are descended from Proto-Celtic, or "Common Celtic"; a branch of the greater Indo-European language family...
word for salt
Salt
In chemistry, salts are ionic compounds that result from the neutralization reaction of an acid and a base. They are composed of cations and anions so that the product is electrically neutral...
.
Since the 13th century the salt mine
Salt mine
A salt mine is a mining operation involved in the extraction of rock salt or halite from evaporite deposits.-Occurrence:Areas known for their salt mines include Kilroot near Carrickfergus, Northern Ireland ; Khewra and Warcha in Pakistan; Tuzla in Bosnia; Wieliczka and Bochnia in Poland A salt mine...
at Absam
Absam
Absam is a municipality in the Innsbruck-Land District, Tyrol situated at an altitude of 632 m, has an area of 52 km² and 6700 inhabitants as January 2011.-Geography:...
in the Hall Valley north of the town formed the main industry of the town and its surroundings. The first adit was laid out in 1272 at the behest of Count Meinhard II of Tyrol
Meinhard, Duke of Carinthia
Meinhard II from the House of Meinhardin was ruling Count of Gorizia from 1258 until 1271 and Count of Tyrol from 1258 until his death...
, with the brine
Brine
Brine is water, saturated or nearly saturated with salt .Brine is used to preserve vegetables, fruit, fish, and meat, in a process known as brining . Brine is also commonly used to age Halloumi and Feta cheeses, or for pickling foodstuffs, as a means of preserving them...
led by a 10 km (6 mi) long pipeline to the evaporation pond at Hall. The importance of the salt is also displayed in the coat of arms showing two lions holding a cask of salt. The salt was exported as far as Switzerland, the Black Forest, and the Rhine valley. In 1303 Hall became a town
German town law
German town law or German municipal concerns concerns town privileges used by many cities, towns, and villages throughout Central and Eastern Europe during the Middle Ages.- Town law in Germany :...
. The rights that went with this, as well as the business associated with trading from Hall downriver on Inn and Danube, turned it into the leading market and trading place in the northern parts of Tyrol. Its development experienced a serious setback in 1447, when big parts of the upper town area were razed by a fire. In 1477 it got the right of coinage, when the Tyrolian mint was moved from Meran to Hall. Noteworthy is the fact that in 1486 the first high-grade silver coin Taler, the precursor of the Dollar
Dollar
The dollar is the name of the official currency of many countries, including Australia, Belize, Canada, Ecuador, El Salvador, Hong Kong, New Zealand, Singapore, Taiwan, and the United States.-Etymology:...
, was coined in Hall. In the 16th century the mint in Hall also introduced the first automated coining machine in the world. Today a reconstruction of this revolutionary machine can be seen in the Hall Mint Museum in the Burg Hasegg
Burg Hasegg
Hasegg Castle is a castle and mint located in Hall in Tirol, Tyrol, Austria.Construction was completed soon after 1300, when Hall was rapidly becoming the center of Tyrolean commerce and salt mining. The building was originally erected to protect the salt mines, the shipping industry, the bridge...
.
In the 15th and 16th century, Hall was one of the most important towns in the Habsburg Empire. This period also saw the construction of many of the churches, monasteries and convents, that up to now shape the appearance of the town. Today Hall has the biggest intact old town in the western part of Austria.
During the Habsburg Monarchy
Habsburg Monarchy
The Habsburg Monarchy covered the territories ruled by the junior Austrian branch of the House of Habsburg , and then by the successor House of Habsburg-Lorraine , between 1526 and 1867/1918. The Imperial capital was Vienna, except from 1583 to 1611, when it was moved to Prague...
a military garrison was established in Hall. This, and the large freight train station, led to heavy bombardment during World War II, which destroyed the train station, but luckily left the old town almost unscathed.
From 1938 to 1974 the town was called Solbad Hall. However, the Solbad was dropped from the town name, a few years after the salt mining was closed in 1967.
People from Hall
- Christoph GrienbergerChristoph GrienbergerChristoph Grienberger was an Austrian Jesuit astronomer, after whom the crater Gruemberger on the Moon is named.-Biography:Born in Hall in Tirol, in 1580 Christoph...
, the Jesuit astronomer, was born in Hall. - Klaus DibiasiKlaus DibiasiKlaus Dibiasi is a former diver from Italy, who competed in four consecutive Summer Olympics for his native country, starting in 1964...
, Olympic diving champion. - Eva Schlegel , Austrian artist
Town twinning
Hall in Tirol is twinnedTown twinning
Twin towns and sister cities are two of many terms used to describe the cooperative agreements between towns, cities, and even counties in geographically and politically distinct areas to promote cultural and commercial ties.- Terminology :...
with: Iserlohn
Iserlohn
Iserlohn is a city in the Märkischer Kreis district, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is the largest city by population and area within the district and the Sauerland region.-Geography:...
, Germany, since 1967 Winterthur
Winterthur
Winterthur is a city in the canton of Zurich in northern Switzerland. It has the country's sixth largest population with an estimate of more than 100,000 people. In the local dialect and by its inhabitants, it is usually abbreviated to Winti...
, Switzerland Sommacampagna
Sommacampagna
Sommacampagna is a comune in the province of Verona, Veneto, northern Italy.In the frazione of Custoza two battles were fought during the Italian Independence Wars.The town's main football team is Associazione Calcio Somma....
, Italy