Linz

Linz (Pronunciation: /lints/ LEE-NTS, Austrian German: [ˈlints] ^ⓘ; Czech: Linec [ˈlɪnɛt͡s]) 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 214,064. It is the seventh-largest of all cities on the river Danube.

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.

The name "Linz" in its present form was first documented in 799.

Linz was mentioned as a fortified city in 1236 and was granted city rights in 1324.

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

The Oeconomische Encyclopädie (also simply known as the Krünitz), with the entry about Linz being written around 1800, 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. At that time, the city had a population of 16,000–17,000. Major industries were the productions of gunpowder, iron, steel, salt, and firewood. The wool industry was particularly important: a wool manufactory, 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, by the end of the 18th century 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 100,000 in profit and was employing around 30,000 people.

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.

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. 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.