Establishment as a Museum

After the defeat of Hitler Fascism the people of Halle set about the reconstruction of the dilapidated Handel House. On 13 December 1945 the builders’ collective “Bauhütte Roter Turm” had decided to take the work in hand. By 22 February 1948 it was possible for the first concert to take place there and on 13 June of the same year the first permanent exhibition was opened.

This new cultural centre was planned from the very beginning not only as a Handel memorial but as a more general music museum for the city. Thus at the opening only five exhibition rooms and a part of the corridor were devoted to Handel, while five other rooms were assigned to the lives and work of other prominent figures in the musical history of the region. At the same time a part of the collection of musical instruments was set out in all the exhibition rooms. Other musical instruments were systematically arranged in rooms on the second floor.