English: This oil painting was painted by the artist Hans Nowak around 1990, shortly after the fall of the Wall in the former GDR. It is a tribute to his native city of Halle an der Saale, which he was able to visit again unhindered and without any restriction after the fall of the Wall. The impressionistic painting shows in the city of Halle the Red Tower (Roter Turm) and the four towers of the market church (Marktkirche) Unser Lieben Frauen. In the lower part of the painting the booths with their colorful awnings and the people on the market are indicated blurred.

According to Hans Nowak's autobiography, he painted another picture of the Red Tower around the end of 1960. This painting is unknown to the public yet, but at that time his impressionistic painting style and his ductus were far from being as pronounced and as masterful as in the present picture.

However, research revealed another painting by Hans Nowak depicting the market square in Halle in a newspaper photograph from 1980 at an exhibition in Hude near Bremen. In this painting, the artist worked with image reductions. In the old newspaper photo, the Red Tower can be seen in its entirety, even if the artist is standing in front of the painting in the newspaper photo, covering the base of the tower with his body.

There is another painting by Hans Nowak, which shows the Marktkirche (market church) of Halle as the main motive in the foreground, while the Red Tower is only indicated on the right-hand edge of the painting. In this oil painting, the artist also worked with image reductions; however, the striking silhouette of the market church is very clearly recognizable. This painting is owned by the Stadtmuseum Halle.

Here at the market, his grandmother already had a market stall, selling fruits and vegetables, but also stollen at Christmas time. There is another painting of Hans Nowak, painted out of his memories, showing him and his grandmother bringing a large homemade stollen to their market booth.