The Historic Linden Courtyard

As you can see, Francke’s plans did not stop with the Orphanage. A long row of buildings runs down either side of the courtyard. As the number of orphans grew, so Francke needed extra space to house them. Gradually, he added more buildings, some of brick and some half-timbered.

From old manuscripts and books, we have a rather detailed picture of how the children lived in what was to become Francke’s ‘school town’. In Francke’s view, life was a gift from God. For that reason, he believed, we should treat own lives as something precious, something that should never be wasted. Every minute of every day should be used sensibly and constructively! So in the Francke Foundations, the children’s days followed a strict routine. In this way, Francke wanted to teach the children how to plan their time effectively, and build these habits for a lifetime.

Learn more about everyday life in the Historic Schooltown.

The building directly attached to the Orphanage on the other side dates from 1711. It has two large halls – one for prayers and hymns and the other a refectory. The refectory, or dining hall, is on the ground floor. It has a high ceiling, ending just over the second row of windows. The old Bet- und Singesaal – literally, the ‘Prayer and Singing Hall’ – was set on the first floor.

While the refectory on the ground floor provided sustenance for the body, the hall above offered sustenance for the soul.  The old Bet- und Singesaal – literally, the ‘Prayer and Singing Hall’ – was set on the first floor. After all, it served a higher purpose than the refectory. As an assembly hall directly accessible from the Orphanage building, the prayer and singing hall was the place for spiritual edification.

Francke desperately needed more space yet again – and commissioned two more houses next to the refectory. Not only were the number of orphans finding a refuge in his Institutions growing rapidly, but the Francke schools were expanding just as rapidly too. By 1706, he had nearly 1000 pupils and, in 1714, only eight years later, nearly two thousand.

In Francke’s day, the Canstein Bible Institute was housed in the two buildings after the path running across the Linden Courtyard.

The wealthy Baron Carl Hildebrand von Canstein was an enthusiastic follower of Pietism. He was also a close friend of Francke’s and often helped out when Francke needed money for his projects. Since Pietists stressed the importance of reading the Bible in a godly life, Canstein wanted to enable everyone to have their own Bible – a plan Francke was only too keen to support.

You might be tempted to call this half-timbered building the colossus of Linden Courtyard. The Long House is over 110 meters long with, in some parts, six floors. It was built from 1713 to 1716 and was just as amazing for Francke’s contemporaries then as a skyscraper might be for us today – this is, after all Europe’s largest residential half-timbered house.

Next to the library, you can see house 21 - another attractive 18th century house.
Originally, this served as an additional refectory. Later, it was used for many years by the Foundation’s administration and finances office.

August Hermann Francke ‑ a passionate educationalist and a church pastor whose faith in the bounteousness of God was unshakable!
When the city of Halle commissioned this memorial, it was those two aspects of Francke’s life and works that they wanted to immortalise. The bronze memorial was made in 1827 by Christian Daniel Rauch, a Berlin sculptor, to mark the 100th anniversary of Francke’s death.

Who was August Hermann Francke? Learn more about the founder of the Francke Foundations.

The houses to the right in the courtyard are all modern – but the building on the left is old. This once housed Francke’s most famous school – the ‘Royal Pedagogium’.

Learn more about how the school system in the Glauchaschen Anstalten, as the Francke Foundations were called in the 18th century, was structured!