Linz, Upper Austria State, Austria

🇦🇹 Linz is the capital of Upper Austria and third-largest city in Austria. It is situated in the north of the country, on the river Danube.

In 2009, it was a European Capital of Culture.

History The city was founded by the Romans, who called it Lentia. The name Linz was first recorded in AD 799.

It was a provincial and local government city of the Holy Roman Empire, and an important trading point connecting several routes, on either side of the river Danube from the east to the west and Bohemia and Poland from north to the Balkans and Italy to the south. Being the city where the Habsburg Emperor Friedrich III spent his last years, it was, for a short period of time, the most important city in the empire. It lost its status to Vienna and Prague after the death of the Emperor in 1493.

One important inhabitant of the city was the age of discovery-era astronomer and mathematician Johannes Kepler, who spent several years of his life in the city teaching mathematics. On May 15, 1618, he discovered the distance-cubed-over-time-squared—or "third"—law of planetary motion. The local public university, Johannes Kepler University Linz, is named after him.

Another noted citizen was Anton Bruckner, who spent the years between 1855 and 1868 working as a local composer and organist in the Old Cathedral, Linz. The Brucknerhaus is named after him.

Adolf Hitler was born in Braunau am Inn (an Austrian town near the German border) and moved to Linz during his childhood. Hitler spent most of his youth in the Linz area, from 1898 until 1907, when he left for Vienna. The family lived first in the village of Leonding on the outskirts of town, and then on the Humboldtstrasse in Linz. After elementary education in Leonding, Hitler was enrolled in the Realschule (secondary or high school), as was the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein. Notorious Holocaust architect Adolf Eichmann also spent his youth in Linz. Until the end of his life, Hitler considered Linz to be his hometown, and envisioned extensive architectural schemes for it – including a massive new Führermuseum to house his collection of looted art – wanting it to become the main cultural centre of the Third Reich, and to eclipse Vienna, a city he hated.

To make the city economically vibrant, Hitler initiated a major industrialization of Linz shortly before, and during, the Second World War.

Near the end of World War II, Hitler became enamoured of the musical compositions of Anton Bruckner, and, as a result, planned to convert the monastery of St. Florian in Linz – where Bruckner had played the organ, and where he was buried – into a repository of Bruckner's manuscripts.

Hitler evicted the monks from the building and personally paid for the restoration of the organ and the institution of a Bruckner study centre there. He also paid for the Haas collection of Bruckner's works to be published, and himself purchased material for the proposed library.

Additionally, Hitler effected the founding of the Bruckner Symphony Orchestra, which began presenting concerts in Fall 1943. His plan for one of the bell towers in Linz to play a theme from Bruckner's Fourth Symphony never came to pass. In addition to an ordnance depot, Linz had a benzol (oil) plant which was bombed during the Oil Campaign on 16 October 1944. What was once the Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp is 20 km (12 mi) east of Linz.

In May 2001, seven scientific publications, online presentations, and numerous lectures were made public as a result of these efforts. The culture of remembrance extended to the construction of monuments for the victims of National Socialism. Especially since 1988, numerous memorials have been created in public spaces.

The city's confrontation with its Nazi past resulted in the renaming of many streets. In 1945, immediately after the end of the Nazi dictatorship, 39 streets in Linz were renamed, whereas from 1946 to 1987, only two streets were renamed. However, since 1988, 17 new traffic areas were named after victims of National Socialism or resistance fighters. In the recent past a number of Nazi victims and activists who fought Nazism were honored by the city. Simon Wiesenthal, who founded the first Jewish Documentation Center in Linz in 1945, received an award for his work in remembrance of victims of the Second World War.

In 1975, Linz upgraded the college founded in 1966 to become the country's highest form of academic institution, the Johannes Kepler University. It was established in a 90-acre (36 ha) park centered around a pond in the north-east of the city.

Geography Linz is in the centre of Europe, lying on the Paris–Budapest west–east axis and the Malmö–Trieste north–south axis. The Danube is the main tourism and transport connection that runs through the city.

Approximately 29.27% of the city's 96 km² (37 sq mi) wide area is grassland. A further 17.95% are covered with forest. All the rest areas fall on water (6.39%), traffic areas, and land.

Districts Since January 2014 the city has been divided into 16 statistical districts: 1. Innere Stadt; 2. Urfahr; 3. Pöstlingberg; 4. St. Magdalena; 5. Dornach-Auhof; 6. Kaplanhof; 7. Franckviertel; 8. Bulgariplatz; 9. Froschberg; 10. Bindermichl-Keferfeld; 11. Spallerhof; 12. Neue Heimat; 13. Kleinmünchen-Auwiesen; 14. Industriegebiet-Hafen; 15. Ebelsberg; 16. Pichling.

Economy Linz is one of the main economic centres of Austria. Voestalpine is a large technology and capital goods group (founded as the "Hermann-Göring-Werke" during the Second World War), which is known for the LD- ("Linz-Donawitz") procedure for the production of steel. The former "Chemie Linz" chemical group has been split up into several companies. These companies have made Linz one of Austria's most important economic centres.

Furthermore, due to the fact that one of the four Donau-Harbors (Donauhäfen) in Austria is located in Linz, it constitutes an attractive location in regards to logistic and trading enterprises. Nonetheless manufacturing plants can – for instance - be found at the waterfront as well. The economic importance of Linz was founded over centuries in trade. Moreover, the long-standing image of Linz as an industrial city was a result of the National Socialism. As a result of this large industrial enterprises are still located in Linz nowadays. Important examples are the Voestalpine AG or "Chemie Linz" – as already mentioned above. From an economical perspective they represent a large number of jobs and of course industry related enterprises.

The Meeting Industry Report Austria ranks Linz as the third most important destination for congresses in Austria, with a share of 7.4% in the total number of congresses, conferences and seminars held in Austria. Linz has more than 60 congress and event venues. With the Blue Meeting concept, the local tourism association has developed a conference format which focuses on individual needs of participants and adapts to the idea of green meetings, therefore supporting waste prevention, energy efficiency, climate-neutral travel and regional added value.

Economy: Retail Thirteen malls can be found in Linz, three of which are situated in the city centre. Shopping centres include: Arkade, Atrium City Center, Shopping Mall Auwiesen, Shopping Mall Biesenfeld, Shopping Mall Industriezeile, Shopping Mall Kleinmünchen, Shopping Mall Muldenstraße, EuroCenter Oed, Shopping Mall Wegscheid, Infra Center, Lentia City, Passage, and PRO-Kaufland.

According to a recent study by Infrapool, the Linzer Landstraße is the busiest shopping street outside of Vienna. Further shopping streets in Linz include: Linz north: • Alturfahr West • Hauptstraße Urfahr

Linz centre: • City • Altstadt • Pfarrplatz • Promenade • Eisenhandstraße • Südbahnhofmarkt

Linz south: • Einkaufsviertel Wiener Straße • Franckviertel • Bindermichl • Kleinmünchen • Ebelsberg

Close to Linz: • Plus City shopping center.

Education: Universities • The Johannes Kepler University Linz is situated in the north-east of Linz, and hosts law, business, social sciences, engineering and science faculties; about 19,170 students (2016/2017) are enrolled. A spin-off of the university, as well as a Fachhochschule for various computer-related studies, (polytechnic) is located 20 mi (32 km) north of Linz in the small town of Hagenberg im Mühlkreis. • University of Art and Design Linz, public, for arts and industrial design; 1,328 students (2016/2017) • Fachhochschule Oberösterreich, Campus Linz; 879 students (2017/2018) • Anton Bruckner Private University for music, acting and dance; 871 students (2017/2018) • Educational college Oberösterreich; approx. 3,000 students • Educational college Diocese of Linz • Catholic Private University Linz; 341 students (2017/2018), which has been a Papal faculty since 1978 • LIMAK Austrian Business School • KMU Akademie AG (Middlesex University London)

Among Linz's grammar schools is Linz International School Auhof (LISA), it is one of four IB (International Baccalaureate) schools in Austria. At the school, English is the main language for instruction.

Transport Linz serves as an important transport hub for the region of both Upper Austria and, to a lesser degree, southern Bohemia.

Linz Airport lies about 14 km (8.7 mi) south-west of the town centre, in the municipality of Hörsching. The airport can be reached easily via federal highways B139 and B1. The bus line 601 connects the airport within 20 minutes with the centre of Linz. There is also a free shuttle service from Hörsching railway station. Direct flights include Frankfurt, Düsseldorf and Vienna with additional seasonal routes added during the summer and winter months, like for example Mallorca, Ibiza, Tenerife, several Greek islands (like Kos, Rhodes, Crete or Corfu) or Hurghada. Ryanair also flies to London Stansted Airport.

The city also has a central railway station (German: Hauptbahnhof) on Austria's main rail axis, the West railway, linking Vienna with western Austria, Germany and Switzerland. The Linz central station has been awarded eight times (from 2005 to 2011 and 2014) by Austrian Traffic Club as the most beautiful train station in Austria.

There are also varying types of river transport on the Danube, from industrial barges to tourist cruise ships.

Local public transport comprises the city tram network, the city trolleybus network and the city bus network, all operated by the Linz Linien division of Linz AG. The city tram network includes the Pöstlingbergbahn, a steeply graded tramway which climbs a small mountain at the north-west edge of the town.