No Austrian city has changed as dramatically as Linz has in recent years. Once a nice, quiet commercial town on the banks of the Danube, then the place that Adolf Hitler adopted as his hometown, and later a capital of heavy industry with all the side-effects and risks that entails. Today’s Linz is a modern urban center with a flourishing economy and exceptional quality of life. A city where interesting things are happening and the future is taking shape right now. The mission of Linz 2009 European Capital of Culture is to be a part of this process: an initiative implementing sustainable urban development and a driving force for progress in promising directions.

Linz09’s lineup of productions features multifaceted reflections on the past, present and future of the city. The programme will focus intensely on Europe and the world, the dual contexts of an encounter with what this city is, a confrontation with its history, and a consideration of where we’re headed next. Furthermore Linz09’s public communications put the accent on what makes this city so special: a nice balance among industry, culture and nature.

Collaboration with the cultural institutions of the city and province, with extant regional festivals as well as educational institutions, associations and the local indie scene is making it possible to produce 220 projects with more than 7.700 events, realised by about 5.000 artists coming from 66 nations.

And that’s not all: a long list of organisations including the official tourism agencies of the city and province, Linz AG, the city’s cab companies, the Upper Austrian Chamber of Commerce, the ÖBB–Austrian Federal Railways, municipal agencies, and associates in the food & beverage, hospitality and retail sectors are working together with Linz09 to assure that we’ll do an outstanding job as Europe’s official host city.