Linz
City
Clockwise from top: general view with the New Cathedral, pedestrian area in the city centre, Landstraße, Altstadt
Flag Coat of arms Brandmark
The city’s territory, highlighted on a map of Upper Austria, with the borders of the surrounding districts visible.
Linz Pinpointed location within Austria
Coordinates: 48°18′21″N 14°17′11″E / 48.30583°N 14.28639°E / 48.30583; 14.28639
Country	Austria
State	Upper Austria
District	Statutory city
Government
• Mayor	Klaus Luger (SPÖ)
Elevation	266 m (873 ft)
Population
• Metro	271,234
Time zone	UTC+1 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+2 (CEST)
Postal code	4010, 402x, 4030, 404x
Area code	0732, (also 070 until 12 May 2014)
Vehicle registration	L
Website	https://www.linz.at

Linz (/lɪnts/ LINTS,^[1] German: [ˈlɪnts] ^ⓘ; Czech: Linec) is the capital of Upper Austria and third-largest city in Austria. Located on the river Danube, the city is in the far north of Austria, 30 km (19 mi) south of the border with the Czech Republic. As of 1. January 2024, the city has a population of 212.538.^[2] It is the 7th largest of all cities on the Danube river.

Statistical Districts

Since January 2014 the city has been divided into 16 statistical districts:^[3]

Before 2014 Linz was divided into nine districts and 36 statistical quarters. They were:

1. Ebelsberg
2. Innenstadt: Altstadtviertel, Rathausviertel, Kaplanhofviertel, Neustadtviertel, Volksgartenviertel, Römerberg-Margarethen
3. Kleinmünchen: Kleinmünchen, Neue Welt, Scharlinz, Bergern, Neue Heimat, Wegscheid, Schörgenhub
4. Lustenau: Makartviertel, Franckviertel, Hafenviertel
5. Pöstlingberg: Pöstlingberg, Bachl-Gründberg
6. St. Magdalena: St. Magdalena, Katzbach, Elmberg
7. St. Peter
8. Urfahr: Alt-Urfahr, Heilham, Hartmayrsiedlung, Harbachsiedlung, Karlhofsiedlung, Auberg
9. Waldegg: Freinberg, Froschberg, Keferfeld, Bindermichl, Spallerhof, Wankmüllerhofviertel, Andreas-Hofer-Platz-Viertel

History

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Linz originated as a Roman fort named Lentia, established in the first century. The name reflects its location at a bend in the Danube (Celtic root lentos = "bendable"). This strategic position on the river made it the first Roman fort in the Noricum region, protecting a vital transportation route.^[4][5]

The name "Linz" in its present form was first documented in 799.^[4]

Linz was mentioned as a fortified city in 1236 and was granted city rights in 1324.^[6]

Johannes Kepler spent several years of his life in the city teaching mathematics.^[7] On 15 May 1618 he discovered Kepler's laws of planetary motion. The local public university Johannes Kepler University Linz is named for him.^[8]

The Oeconomische Encyclopädie (also simply known as the Krünitz), with the entry about Linz being written around 1800,^[9] describes the city as well built and fortified and its economy as growing, partially because of its location on the Danube and the connection to routes to Hungary and Vienna. When written, the city had a population of 16-17 thousand. Major industries were the productions of gunpowder, iron, steel, salt, firewood and predominantly, the wool industry:

A wool manufactuary, established in 1672, was the biggest in then-Austria, or rather, the Austrian states. It was nationalized in 1754. Plans, made in 1770, of selling it to a tradesman were canceled. Although it kept production going, its golden era was over.

When the Krünitz entry was written, the manufactuary had a yearly revenue of 1.5 million Gulden and was generating a hundred thousand in profit and was employing around 30 thousand people.^[10]

Anton Bruckner spent the years between 1855 and 1868 working as a local composer and organist in the Old Cathedral, Linz. The Brucknerhaus is named for him.^[11]

Adolf Hitler was born in Braunau am Inn (an Austrian town near the German border) and moved to Linz during his childhood. The notorious Holocaust bureaucrat Adolf Eichmann also spent his youth in Linz. Until the end of his life, Hitler considered Linz to be his hometown.^[12] Hitler effected the founding of the Bruckner Symphony Orchestra, which began presenting concerts in autumn 1943. His plan for one of the bell towers in Linz to play a theme from Bruckner's Fourth Symphony never came to pass.^[13]

During World War II Linz was a giant industrial complex in support of the Nazi war effort. Hermann Göring supervised the construction of the Voest complex, ultimately a gigantic construction site built by slave labour. The Mauthausen concentration camp was established to the east of Linz, but three Mauthausen sub-camps were within the Voest complex.^[14]

In addition to an ordnance depot Linz had a benzol plant which was bombed during the Oil Campaign of World War II.^[15] 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, but 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.^{[citation needed]}

Economy

Linz is one of the main economic centres of Austria. Voestalpine is a large technology and capital goods group, founded as the "Reichswerke Hermann Göring" during World War II. It is now known for basic oxygen steelmaking technique. The former "Chemie Linz" chemical group has been split up into several companies.

The Meeting Industry Report Austria (mira) ranks Linz as the third most important destination for congresses in Austria, with a share of 7.4 percent in the total number of congresses, conferences and seminars held in Austria.^[16] 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 minimisation, energy efficiency, climate-neutral travel, as well as regional added value.^[17]

Donau-Harbor

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. Manufacturing plants can be found along the waterfront. The economic importance of Linz was founded over centuries in trade. Large industrial enterprises are still located in Linz nowadays. Important examples are the Voestalpine AG.

Shopping

Thirteen shopping 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 study by Infrapool in Oktober 2010, the Linzer Landstraße is the busiest shopping street outside of Vienna. The weekly frequency is noted between 240,500 (Monday-Saturday, 8 a.m. until 7 p.m.) and 228,400 (8 a.m. until 6 p.m.) passers-by, which is the second highest value – only in 2005 more passers-by were detected.

Markets

There are eleven farmer's markets as well as one weekly flea market, and two Christmas markets in Linz. One of these markets, the "Urfahraner Markt", takes place in spring and fall every year. Furthermore, there are annually Christmas and New Year's Markets. The aim of the market administration is to provide the population with a wide range of products, as well as operating the markets in an economical, suitable and customer oriented manner. Additionally, the annual market called "Linzer Marktfrühling" sets further accents and lures new customers with attractive offers.

Transport

Linz Airport lies about 14 km (8.7 mi) southwest 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.^[18]

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.^[19] The city tram network includes the Pöstlingbergbahn, a steeply graded tramway which climbs a small mountain at the northwest edge of the town.

Population

The urban area includes (parts of) 13 other municipalities with together 271,000 inhabitants. Linz is also part of the Linz-Wels-Steyr metropolitan area of Upper Austria, home to around one third of the state's population (460,000 people) and second-largest urban area in Austria.^[20][21]

Largest groups of foreign residents[22]
Nationality	Population (1 January 2022)
Romania	6,049
Bosnia and Herzegovina	5,505
Turkey	4,072
Germany	3,725
Croatia	3,634
Afghanistan	2,746
Syria	2,650
Kosovo	2,608
Hungary	2,581
Serbia	2,376
North Macedonia	1,501
Russia	1,370

Climate

Linz has an oceanic climate (Köppen climate classification: Cfb), with warm summers and quite cold winters.