Hallenberg

Hallenberg is a country town in the Rothaargebirge mountains and belongs to the Hochsauerlandkreis district in North Rhine-Westphalia (Germany). It is the smallest Westphalian municipality - measured by the number of inhabitants - as well as the second smallest town in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia after Heimbach (Eifel). Hallenberg was founded by the Archbishop of Cologne, Konrad von Hochstaden, as a border fortress and was a farming town until well into the 20th century. This changed only in recent times with the settlement of commercial enterprises and the upswing of tourism.