Linz

Linz lies on the Danube in Upper Austria, 30 km south of the Czech border. The river bends here, giving the city its name from the Celtic word for ‘bend’. It is the third-largest city in Austria, with a population of over two hundred thousand. The surrounding region is flat farmland, rising gently to the Mühlviertel hills in the north. The Danube carries barges and passenger boats through the city, linking it to Vienna and Budapest. The Romans built a fort called Lentia at the bend in the first century. The name Linz appears in records from 799, and the town became a fortified city in 1236. It grew as a trade hub on the Danube, connecting routes to Hungary and Vienna. By 1800 it had sixteen to seventeen thousand people and factories making gunpowder, iron, steel and wool. Johannes Kepler taught mathematics here and discovered his laws of planetary motion. The city’s industries expanded in the 19th and 20th centuries, especially steel and chemicals. Linz hosts universities, museums and annual festivals, and was a European Capital of Culture in 2009. The Brucknerhaus concert hall and the university bear the names of local figures. The city’s industrial past includes the Voest steelworks, built during the Second World War. Linz has eleven farmers’ markets, two Christmas markets and thirteen shopping malls. It is a major transport hub, with motorways leading to Vienna, Salzburg, the Czech Republic and Germany.