Schwäbisch Hall

Salt springs made this town wealthy from the Middle Ages, and it minted its own coin, the Heller, which circulated widely enough that its name entered German as a word for a small amount of money. The market square is closed at one end by a broad flight of fifty-four stone steps rising to St Michael's church, consecrated in 1156 and rebuilt as a Gothic hall church from 1427; since 1925 the steps have been used as a stage for open-air theatre each summer, with the audience in the square below. The Kunsthalle Würth, a private gallery of modern and contemporary art, opened in 2001 and is free to enter.

History

Celts made salt from the brine here as early as the fifth century BCE, and the town is first mentioned in the Öhringer Stiftungsbrief of 1063; it passed to the Hohenstaufen around 1116, and Emperor Frederick I probably founded the imperial mint that struck the Heller. In 1280 Rudolph I settled its quarrel with the Schenken von Limpurg, opening the way to its rise as a free imperial city, and in 1340 Louis the Bavarian granted it a constitution; from the 14th to the 16th century it gathered a large territory, and St Michael's Church was rebuilt from 1427 to 1526, with its great stairway of 1507. Johannes Brenz became pastor of St Michael's in 1522 and brought in the Reformation early, the Thirty Years' War left the town impoverished, with every fifth inhabitant dying of hunger and plague between 1634 and 1638, and its open-pan saltworks closed in 1925 (Wikipedia, Schwäbisch Hall).

The main sights

• The church steps - fifty-four stone steps used as a summer theatre stage.
• The Heller connection - a local coin whose name entered the language.
• The half-timbered town - steep-roofed houses on the Kocher river.
• The Kunsthalle Würth - a free private gallery of modern art.

When to go

May to September, when the open-air theatre season runs on the steps; performances are ticketed and popular. The town is quiet the rest of the year.

Things to know

Theatre performances are in German and sell out. The town is hilly with steep lanes. Parking near the centre is limited.

Nearby

Stuttgart lies southwest; the Hohenlohe country surrounds it.

Key facts