Every year one or several European cities awarded the title of «cultural capital of Europe». In 2009, this honor awarded Lithuanian capital Vilnius and the Austrian city of Linz.

How glorified Linz, and what will be able to visit the art lovers who decided to carry out their vacations there?

Linz - a small town situated on the banks of the Danube River. Its population is about 200 thousand people. The most brilliant period in the history of Linz - the end of XV century, when the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick III moved his residence there. The city even for a while pobyl capital of the empire - the truth, not for a long time, only three years. Unfortunately, the world-famous Linz is not so. No article about this town is not without references to Adolf Hitler - in Linz monstrous offender spent his childhood and adolescence. Hitler wanted Linz became the cultural center of the Third Reich and had planned to build a «Führer Museum», where svozilis all cultural property stolen in Europe.

Fortunately, the plans for Hitler realized it was not fated, but this does not mean that after the death of the Fuhrer and the fall of the Third Reich, a city on the bank of the Danube zachah. In the time of the Nazis there were built many factories, and now Linz is one of the largest industrial centers in Austria. Many buildings were destroyed by war, but the city eventually «recovered» and again began to flourish.

The title of «cultural capital of Europe» is awarded since 1985. The first became the cultural capital of Athens. This title gives cities the right to «show themselves in the best» and attract tourists. The aim of the project «cultural capital» - show how varied are the culture of countries of the European Union. From 2005 to 2019, each EU country is entitled to choose the city which will be its cultural capital. In order to worthy of the title, would not necessarily be a «city-museum» of monuments at every turn - the decision is taken solely on the basis of an assessment of the cultural program designed for one specific year. Cultural capital receive funds for this program: for example, the Government of the EU has allocated 1.5 million euro Linz. Another 20 million Federal Government has provided land Upper Austria, the Austrian Ministry of Education, arts and culture, as well as local patrons.

In 2009, residents of Linz and the guests will visit the cultural capital of more than 200 theatrical performances, exhibitions, concerts and other events. In late summer in the city will be opened «Brewery», where you can see performances of musicians and dancers, as well as the drink of the Austrian beer. Do not forget about the grandiose projects that have been prepared for Linz, some contemporary artists. The most notable of them are exploring such topics as the special status of Linz in the mythology of the Third Reich, «audio landscape» the city and noise pollution, as well as strategies to monitor and protest.

German videohudozhnitsa Hito Shtayerl (Hito Steyerl) decided to undertake a «Nazi» period in the history of the city. She has created an installation entitled «Among Us», which tells how to build two buildings, located near the bridge Nibelungov. These solid, powerful house became the only «child» Hitler's grandiose plans for rebuilding the city. The main thesis, which Shtayerl wants to convey to the audience - that architecture is one of the languages spoken by the power. Houses of the bridge is very impressive and beautiful, but who built them and in what circumstances? .. The artist encourages the look of the surface of things and look into the eyes of the terrible truth, which not many people thought Linz in 1930-ies: for the construction of these buildings, as well as many other architectural sites in Austria and Germany, used forced labor of prisoners of concentration camps, which worked hungry for many hours a day. Now this topic is very relevant in connection with the construction boom in China and the Middle East. Every year there is all the more amazing facilities - a stadium «Bird's Nest» Herzog and de Meron (Herzog & De Meuron) is worth - but again, people who work at construction sites? .. They are mostly poor workers with low levels of distant provinces who are malnourished, receive little pay and work without any protection, even barefoot. Of course, they are the builders arrived, but it does not undo the fact that their working conditions are awful. Installation Hito Shtayerl starting February 9.

The Museum of Modern Art Lentos, open only six years ago, the exhibition will present the Best of Austria, which will see the works of Austrian artists - Egon Schiele (Egon Schiele), Valie Export (Valie Export), Erwin Vurma (Erwin Wurm), Marcus Shinvalda (Markus Schinwald) and others, as well as Olafur Eliasson (Olafur Eliasson) from Denmark, France Gertsha (Franz Gertsch) from Switzerland and Anselm Kifer (Anselm Kiefer) from Germany. The works provided Albertina, Austrian Museum of Applied Arts and Contemporary Art and the Museum of Salzburg. The exhibition has already begun and will continue until May 10.

February 12, Lentos in a solo exhibition of Turkish artist Kutlu Ataman (Kutluğ Ataman) entitled «Mesopotamia Drama», which will end April 19.

August 28, the museum will present an exhibition «Look at this sound», which can be seen (and heard) audio-visual works by contemporary artists. This exhibition will run until January 10, 2010.

In addition, the festival will be held in Linz, Ars Electronica. It will be held in the new center, designed by architects from the Austrian company Treusch. For residents of Linz, this festival has long been a familiar phenomenon: the first time he had arranged in 1978 and has since been held annually. Now, Ars Electronica has his own house, which has already dubbed «the Museum of the Future». It will display a «high» Art in the world, created with the latest developments in areas such as biotechnology, robotics and neyrovizualizatsiya. Visitors also can see at the festival «design the future». Ars Electronica will be five days - from 3 to 8 September.

As Lentos, cultural center Offenes Kulturhaus Oberösterreich (OK) will present the exhibit «best hits» called Biennale Cuvée ( «Full back Biennale»). There you will admire the works of art, made use of the greatest success at the recent Art Biennale in Seoul, Taipei, Venice, Shanghai and other cities. Among the top items - works of Indian Shilpy Gupta (Shilpa Gupta), American Terin Simon (Taryn Simon) and born in Luxembourg, Su-Mei COE (Su-Mei Tse). Curators are OK sponsors «Art in the city», according to which the art on display, not only in museums and galleries, but also in the shop windows and underground bomb shelters, in the attics and rooftops. Biennale Cuvée also will not be limited to placing the cultural center: the work of international stars Biennale can be found in the underground chapel of the church Ursulinenkirhe and in buildings near the main train station Linz. The exhibition will be held from 27 February to 26 April.

Linz Museum is very interesting, but the title of the main attractions the city is Mount Pestlinberg. No railroad in the world does not rise to such a steep slope, as that leads to the top of the mountain. Summer Pestlinberg decorate installations and sculptures of various artists, including Monica Bonvinchini (Monica Bonvincini), Douglas Gordon (Douglas Gordon), Kellam Morton (Callum Morton), Wong Hoy Cheon (Wong Hoy Cheong), Arthur Zmievskaya (Artur Zmijewski), and other . The exhibition, called «The Holy Mountain», starting June 13 and will run until September 13.

Material prepared Yulia Maksimova

Sources: artinfo.com , linz09.at , artinvestment.ru