Linz : Austria
Economy
Linz today is still an industrial city. The VOEST ALPINE a rather large steel mill (Founded as “Hermann Gring Werke” during WWII, famous for the LD- (“Linz- Donawitz”) procedure for the production of steel) and the former “Chemie Linz” a chemical group, now split up in several companies, made Linz to one of Austria’s most important economical centers. The city itself is not signed by these heavy industries.
Sights
The main street “Landstrasse” leads from the “Blumauerplatz” to the main square. In the middle of this square the high “Pestsule” (“plague monument”, also known as “Dreifaltigkeitssule”) was built to remember the people who died in the plague epidemics.
Near the castle, which is located at the same place as the old roman fortress Lentia once was built, being the former seat of Friedrich the III, the oldest Austrian church is located – the Martins church. It was built during the early medieval carolingian times.
Other sights include:
St. Mary’s Cathedral (Mariendom), Roman Catholic
Pstlingberg-Kirche
Culture
The composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart wrote his Symphony No. 36 (1783) in Linz for a concert to be given there, and the work is today known as the Linz Symphony. The first version of Anton Bruckner’s Symphony No. 1 in C minor is known as the Linz version.
The city is now home to a vibrant music and arts scene that is well-funded by the city and the state of Upper Austria.
Ars Electronica Center on the north bank of the Danube (in the Urfahr district), across from the Alt Stadt is home to one of the few public 3D CAVEs in Europe (the very first 3D CAVE world-wide that was publicly accessible) and attracts a large gathering of technologically oriented artists every year for the Ars Electronica Festival.
Recently built (2003) was the new modern art gallery called “Lentos”. It is situated on the banks of the river Danube. The building can be illuminated in blue, pink and violet at night.
