Hall in Tirol

Hall in Tirol
Skyline with Karwendel range Skyline with Karwendel range
Coat of arms of Hall in Tirol Coat of arms
Hall in Tirol Location within Austria
Location in the district 260x260px
Coordinates:
Country	Austria
State	Tyrol
District	Innsbruck Land
Government
• Mayor	Eva-Maria Posch (ÖVP)
Area
• Total	5.54 km2 (2.14 sq mi)
Elevation	574 m (1,883 ft)
Population (1 January 2014)
• Total	13,171
• Density	2,400/km2 (6,200/sq mi)
Time zone	CET (UTC+1)
• Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+2)
Postal code	6060
Area code	05223
Vehicle registration	IL
Website	www.hall-in-tirol.at

File:Hall in Tirol.JPG

A street in the old town with Mount Bettelwurf in the background

Hall in Tirol is a town in the Innsbruck-Land district of Tyrol, Austria. Located at an altitude of 574 m, about 5 km (3 mi) east of the state's capital Innsbruck in the Inn valley, it has a population of about 13,000 (Jan 2013).

History

Hall in the County of Tyrol was first mentioned as a salina (saltern) near Thaur castle in a 1232 deed. The current name dates back to 1256, and similarly to Halle, Hallein, Schwäbisch Hall or Hallstatt is derived from the Celtic word for salt.

Since the 13th century the salt mine at Absam 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, with the brine channeled by a 10 km (6 mi) long pipeline to the evaporation pond at Hall. The importance of the salt industry, which exported goods as far as Switzerland, the Black Forest, and the Rhine valley, is reflected in Hall's coat of arms, which shows two lions holding a cask of salt. In 1303 Hall became a town. The rights that came 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 suffered a serious setback in 1447, when large 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. It was here, in 1486, that the first high-grade silver Taler, the precursor of the dollar, was coined. In the 16th century the mint in Hall also introduced the world's first automated coining machine. Today a reconstruction of this revolutionary machine can be seen in the Hall Mint Museum in the Burg Hasegg.

In the 15th and 16th century, Hall was one of the most important towns in the Habsburg Empire. This period saw the construction of many of the churches, monasteries and convents that still shape the appearance of the town. Today Hall has the biggest intact old town in the western part of Austria.

During the Habsburg Monarchy a military garrison was established in Hall. This, along with the large freight train station, became a target of heavy bombardment during World War II, which destroyed the train station but left the old town almost unscathed.

From 1938 to 1974 the town was called Solbad Hall - Solbad was dropped from the town name a few years after the salt mining was closed in 1967.

Population

Historical population
Year	Pop.	±%
1869	5,333	—
1880	5,657	+6.1%
1890	5,982	+5.7%
1900	6,438	+7.6%
1910	7,365	+14.4%
1923	7,454	+1.2%
1934	8,657	+16.1%
1939	9,349	+8.0%
1951	10,075	+7.8%
1961	10,811	+7.3%
1971	12,873	+19.1%
1981	12,614	−2.0%
1991	12,368	−2.0%
2001	11,492	−7.1%
2011	12,695	+10.5%

Personalities

• Klaus Dibiasi, Olympic diving champion.
• Janine Flock, skeleton racer, was born here.
• Christoph Grienberger, the Jesuit astronomer, was born here.

Town twinning

Hall in Tirol is twinned with:

• Iserlohn, Germany, since 1967
• Winterthur, Switzerland
• Sommacampagna, Italy

Climate

Climate type is dominated by the winter season, a long, bitterly cold period with short, clear days, relatively little precipitation mostly in the form of snow, and low humidity. The Köppen Climate Classification subtype for this climate is "Dfc" (Continental Subarctic Climate).

External links

• City-Tour with many pictures of Hall in Tirol