LINZ - AUSTRIAN DANUBE CITY
European Capital of Culture 2009
“Linz?! Why do you want to go to Linz?” Everyone in Vienna
seemed to ask when I mentioned my travel plans. As if only grand imperial
egoist Vienna or ancient salt wealth Salzburg were worthy of hard spent
travel dollars. Linz is Vienna’s industrial city in upper Austria,
on the Danube River and near the border with the Czech Republic. In the
1950’s the part of the city on the north side of the Danube was
under communist control. It was in Linz Adolph Hitler spoke to massive
crowds following the Austrian Anschluß from a balcony in the old
town square.
Linz
may not have the multitude of tourist attractions as Austria’s
better known destinations, and perhaps therefore not the multitudes
of tourists that can crowd the narrow lanes of Salzburg in the high summer
season. What Linz does have is cobble-stone streets of beautiful old
medieval guild and Renaissance buildings, the river Danube lit with
the bright shifting colors of the new Ars Electronica Center, a futurist
museum
with computer
controlled LED lighting on its patterned surface which plays on the
river, the reflective mirror glass of the modern art Lentos Museum,
its Swarovski Crystal ship, the magnificent beautiful baroque church
where a Habsburg heart rests, fresh young students from four universities
wander the main shopping street where the street tram line from the train
station to the old bridge slides through narrow lanes, and distinctly
Linz food, Brosner sausage sandwiches and the sweet delicacy of 300 years,
the Linzer Torte.
Linz Capital of Culture 09 Events
Linz
is going through changes. In the past known mostly for its steel production,
no other Austrian city has gone through as much transition
as Linz. For 2009 Linz is the European Capital of Culture (along with
Vilnius Lithuania). The designation awarded to different European cities
to promote growth and development has been embraced by Linz, with a whole
host of projects on tap for the year and beyond, mixing the old with
the brand new. The Capital of Culture events comprise 215 different forms of performance
or cultural experience through the calendar of 2009. Concerts, stage
works, art performance pieces and pure experiments. In the summer of
2009 many of the events take to the parks and public spaces of the green
city of Linz. Presented in themes at venues like The Circus performance
hall in a former circus round tent turned concert hall with its ticket
office and interact bar in a bus parked in front and the Hafenhalle constructed
especially for the Linz09 Capital of Culture year.
In
July, the Linz Castle Museum reopens after reconstruction of the south
wing,
destroyed
by fire in the 1800s, with a new balcony view
of the old city from its new restaurant and a European Green Belt exhibit
exploring the changes between the former divisions of East and West Europe.
In August the Bruckner Festival and in September Klangwolke – Sound
Cloud – an auditory experience with magical creatures transforming
in the streets to the premier of a Philip Glass opera “Kepler” based
on astronomer Johannes Kepler. In October, the Doppelgänger Festival
of puppets and shadow theater at the Haffenhalle
A
variety of organized sightseeing tours, from the mundane to avant-garde are
on offer for
the culture capital year. The Austria Guides offer
a guided trip through the city under the motto “Linz Changes“ until
mid-October, meeting daily from the tourist office at 11 am. Segway Tours
on the motorized floating scooters present a post-modern way to see the
city, and perhaps the oddest of sight-seeing tours called "Hide" with
mirrors, special suits and kneepads, squirming and crawling to hide from
security
cameras,
a
mix of tourism and social art project in a surveillance society. Check
with the website for all the events, or schedules can be found at the
tourist office at the Hauptplatz. Just looks for the red checkerboard,
or most hotels will have a program schedule. © Bargain
Travel Europe
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Web Info
Linz
09 Culture Capital Events
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SEE ALSO:
EMPEROR
TOMB - KAISERGRUFT VIENNA
INNSBRUCK'S
COURT CHURCH - HOFKIRCHE TOMB
HELLBRUNN PALACE - TRICK FOUNTAINS IN SALZBURG
DANUBE RIVER CRUISING - CRUISE WEST
AUSTRIA BOUTIQUE DESIGN HOTELS
