MERSEBURG  , a

town of Germany, in the Prussian province of Saxony, on the river Saale, Io m. by rail S. of Halle and 15 m . W. of Leipzig . Pop . (1905), 20,024 . It consists of a quaint and irregularly built old town, a, new quarter, and two extensive suburbs, Altenburg and Neumarkt . The cathedral, which was restored in 1884-1886, has a choir, a crypt and two towers of the 11th, a transept of the 13th and a late Gothic nave of the 16th century . Among its numerous monuments is one to Rudolph of Swabia, the rival of the emperor Henry IV . It contains a great organ dating from the 17th century . Near the cathedral is the Gothic palace, formerly the residence of the bishops of Merseburg, and now used as public offices . The town hall and the Standehaus, where the meetings of the provincial estates were held, are also noteworthy buildings . The industries include the manufacture of machinery, paper and celluloid, and tanning and brewing . Merseburg is one of the oldest towns in Germany .

From 968 until the

Reformation, it was the seat of a bishop, and in addition to being for a time the residence of the margraves of Meissen, it was a favourite residence of the German kings during the roth, i 1th and 12th centuries . Fifteen diets were held here during the middle ages, when its fairs enjoyed the importance which was afterwards transferred to those of Leipzig . The town suffered severely during the Peasants' War and also during the Thirty Years' War . From 1657 to 1738 it was the residence of the dukes of Saxe-Merseburg . See E . Hoffmann, IZistorische Nachrichten aus Alt-Merseburg (Mers°burg, 1903) .