Golden Hour on the Danube

Linz is known for mixing historic architecture with modern culture and tech, right along the river. The skyline shows the concert hall Brucknerhaus and Oberbank Donau-Forum on the left and the Lentos Art Museum on the right while the city’s churches spires on the skyline.

The Danube (Donau) is Europe's second-longest river and is considered Linz’s “lifeline,” connecting Linz to other major capitals like Vienna, Bratislava, and Budapest. The "Donaulände" (riverbank) form a cultural zone with venues like the Brucknerhaus concert hall, the Lentos Kunstmuseum, and the Ars Electronica Center along the so-called cultural mile "Kulturmeile."

At the most left appears the Brucknerhaus, with its curved glass facade. The concert hall named after the Austrian composer Anton Bruckner was designed by Finnish architects Heikki and Kaija Siren to open up in 1974 toward the river, symbolizing a connection between nature and music. It is famous for its excellent acoustics and as the main venue for the International Bruckner Festival and the open-air Linzer Klangwolke.

The large glass building next to the Brucknerhaus is the Oberbank Donau-Forum, a major venue for art and cultural events, known for its "Steel and Glass" architecture that reflects the industrial heritage of the city.

On the right appears the Lentos Art Museum, a modern and contemporary art museum with its sleek, floating glass "ship" that lights up the night sky. The museum opened in 2003 was designed by Zurich architects Weber & Hofer as a 130-meter-long glass “light box” that glows in color at night and has a big “Donau window” framing the river view. It holds key works by artists like Gustav Klimt, Egon Schiele, Oskar Kokoschka, Andy Warhol, and VALIE EXPORT, making it one of Austria’s most important museums for modern and contemporary art.

The prominent spire in the background belongs to the New Cathedral (Mariendom), the largest church in Austria by capacity (holding 20,000 people). The tower was built to be 134 meters tall— exactly 2 meters shorter than St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna, because under the Austro-Hungarian Empire, no building was allowed to be taller than the Stephansdom!