Facts about Linz
Linz is the third largest city of Austria. The city is also the capital of the state of Upper Austria. It is located in the north centre of Austria, approximately 30 km south of the Czech border, on both sides of the river Danube, the longest river of the European Union and Europe's second-longest (after the Volga). As of 2007, the population of the city proper is 189,343, and 271,000 in the agglomeration. The city was founded by the Romans, who called it "Lentia", but there was already a Celtic settlement called "Lentos"; probably their word for the winding of a river. 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. Linz lost its provincial and local government city status to Vienna and Prague after the death of the Emperor Friedrich III in 1493. One important inhabitant of the city was Johannes Kepler, who spent several years of his life in the city studying mathematics. He discovered, on May 15, 1618, the distance-cubed-over-time-squared — or 'third' — law of planetary motion. Adolf Hitler was born in the border town of Braunau am Inn but moved to Linz in his childhood, spending most of his youth in Linz. Hitler's parents are buried in the town of Leonding, near Linz. Hitler had extensive architectural plans for Linz, and wanted to it to be the main cultural centre of the Third Reich. Hitler initiated a major industrialization of Linz shortly before, and during, World War II. Many factories were dismantled in the newly-acquired Czechoslovakia, and then reassembled in Linz, where they were known as the Hermann-Göring-Werke. In 1900, the population of Linz was 83,356. The Johannes Kepler University is situated in the north-east of Linz, it currently has about 11,000 students.[2007] Mary Anne of Austria who was Archduchess of Austria and Queen consort of Portugal was born in Linz on September 7, 1683. Alois Riegl who was an Austrian art historian, and is considered a member of the Vienna School of Art History was born on 14 January 1858 in Linz. He was one of the major figures in the establishment of art history as a self-sufficient academic discipline, and one of the most influential practitioners of formalism. Hermann Bahr who was an Austrian writer, playwright, director, and critic, was born on July 19, 1863 in Linz. |
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