Halberstadt [key], city, Saxony-Anhalt, central Germany. It is an industrial center and rail junction and has sugar-refining, metal-processing, and engineering plants. Manufactures include machinery, rubber, and processed food. Halberstadt was made an episcopal see in 814. It was burned (1179) by Henry the Lion; after Henry's fall (1180) the bishopric of Halberstadt was given in temporal fief to the bishops by Emperor Frederick I. The city became (13th–14th cent.) a flourishing trade center. In 1648 it was annexed by Brandenburg. Halberstadt was severely damaged in World War II. Noteworthy buildings include the Cathedral of St. Stephen (13th–17th cent.) and the Liebfrauenkirche, a 12th-century church.
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