Market castle with tourist information

The patrician house was built around 1600 as an eye-catcher with other town houses on the market square in Halle (Saale). With its red façade and stair tower in the inner courtyard, the Marktschlösschen is a jewel in the Renaissance style. Over the centuries, it has been the noble home of salt counts, merchants and a pharmacist. Rebuilt several times, it housed the pharmacy "Zum Goldenen Löwen" as well as a coffee house, a hardware store, the Ratsschenke and later the historical instruments of the Handel House. Today, the building, which is a listed building, combines the tourist information office with the hallesaale* and university shop.