Linz is a town in the north of Austria of 191,767 inhabitants, the third largest Austrian town and the capital of the federal state of Upper Austria.

Linz lies in the north of central Austria, only 30 kilometers from the border with the Czech Republic, 160 km west of Vienna, along both banks of the Danube. Surrounded by the Linzer Becken valley surrounded by the mountains, today it is connected with the surrounding cities (Amstetten, Wels and Steyr) and formed a small metropolis.

Linz developed from the Roman military fortress - Lentia, which became an important shopping center in the Middle Ages. Linz is mentioned for the first time in 799 when Bavaria expanded to the south and occupied the area. By the 13th century, Linz had acquired all the external features of the city but had not yet had the status of the city. This status was acquired only in the 15th century when he was in the car of the Holy Roman Emperor - Fridrik III., Then became known for his fairs.

At the beginning of the 17th century, Linz had taught mathematics for the first time by the famous astronomer Johannes Kepler, today called the Johann Kepler's Local University, founded in 1966. [2] At the same time Protestantism expanded around the city and the surrounding area, which led the Jesuits to carry out the counter-Reformation. Numerous baroque buildings were built within the 17th century. Since 1785, Linz has become the seat of the Roman Catholic Diocese. [2] During the War for the Austrian legacy, the city was occupied by the Bavarian and French troops in 1741, and in 1800 the city burned down the fire. In addition to Linz in 1809, the Battle of Ebelsberg between the Austrian and Napoleonic forces in the War of the Fifth Coalition.

The first European railroad (outside England) still hunted by horses was built between Linz and Budweis - 1832. During that period, the Danube was flourishing, so Linz became a major port for numerous industrial goods from the Czech Republic, which was transported by rail to Linz , and continued to drive ships along the Danube across the monarchy. A major leap in the development of the city was the construction of the 1861 railway to Vienna and Salzburg. Since 1880, Linz has a horse-drawn tram that was electrified in 1897. Since the middle of the 19th century, the industry has started to develop into metal processing and textile.

Adolf Hitler spent part of childhood and youth in Linz, where he attended high school with Ludwig Wittgenstein - jealousy for his humble life, allegedly had a decisive influence on his later attitudes about the Jews. In 1934, in Linz, the Schiff Nazi hotel tried to revolt against the Austrian authorities. After the Anschlus of Austria in the Third Reich in Linz, in 1938, construction of steelworks and other heavy industry plants began as a branch of the state-owned joint stock company "Hermann Göring" in Berlin. This large complex began with the production of war material in 1941 and was constantly being built with thousands of foreign workers, some of whom volunteered for themselves, but also with a large number of forcibly recruited workers and prisoners of concentration camps were used to construct manufacturing and armaments. By the end of the Second World War, these drives were the target of heavy allied bombings - so these post-war drives have been renewed for a long time.

Linz is one of the largest Austrian industrial centers, known for its large steel company Voestalpine, which was built at the time of the Third Reich. In addition to Voestalpine, Linz operates a number of other smaller plants that produce machines, electrical equipment, textiles, glass, furniture, beverages, footwear, rubber and tobacco products. With its numerous shopping malls and large wholesale stores, Linz is the trade center of that part of Austria.

Belgrade is the capital and largest city of Serbia. It's located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers, where the Pannonian Plain meets the Balkans. Its name translates to "White city". The urban area of the City of Belgrade has a population of 1.23 million, while over 1.65 million people live within its administrative limits. Its metropolitan territory is divided into 17 municipalities, each with its own local council. Belgrade is classified as a Beta- Global City.

One of the most important prehistoric cultures of Europe, the Vinča culture, evolved within the Belgrade area in the 6th millennium BC. In antiquity, Thraco-Dacians inhabited the region, and after 279 BC Celts conquered the city, naming it Singidūn.

In 1521, Belgrade was conquered by the Ottoman Empire and became the seat of the Sanjak of Smederevo. It frequently passed from Ottoman to Habsburg rule, which saw the destruction of most of the city during the Austro-Ottoman wars. Belgrade was again named the capital of Serbia in 1841. Northern Belgrade remained the southernmost Habsburg post until 1918, when the city was reunited. As a strategic location, the city was battled over in 115 wars and razed 44 times. Belgrade was the capital of Yugoslavia from its creation in 1918.

During the post-war period, Belgrade grew rapidly as the capital of the renewed Yugoslavia, developing as a major industrial center. In 1948, construction of New Belgrade started. In 1958, Belgrade's first television station began broadcasting. In 1961, the conference of Non-Aligned Countries was held in Belgrade under Tito's chairmanship. In 1962, Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport was built.

Belgrade hosts many annual international cultural events, including the Film Festival, Theatre Festival, Summer Festival, Music Festival, Book Fair, Eurovision Song Contest 2008, and the Beer Fest. The Nobel Prize winning author Ivo Andrić wrote his most famous work, The Bridge on the Drina, in Belgrade.Other prominent Belgrade authors include Branislav Nušić, Miloš Crnjanski, Borislav Pekić, Milorad Pavić and Meša Selimović.

Most of Serbia's film industry is based in Belgrade. FEST is an annual film festival that held since 1971, and, through 2013, had been attended by four million people and had presented almost 4,000 films.

The city was one of the main centers of the Yugoslav new wave in the 1980s: VIS Idoli, Ekatarina Velika, Šarlo Akrobata and Električni Orgazam were all from Belgrade. Other notable Belgrade rock acts include Riblja Čorba, Bajaga i Instruktori and Partibrejkers.

There are many foreign cultural institutions in Belgrade, including the Spanish Instituto Cervantes, the German Goethe-Institut and the French Institut français, which are all located in the central pedestrian area of Knez Mihailova Street. Other cultural centers in Belgrade are American Corner, Austrian Cultural Forum, British Council, Chinese Confucius Institute, Canadian Cultural Center, Hellenic Foundation for Culture, Italian Istituto Italiano di Cultura, Iranian Culture Center, Azerbaijani Culture Center and Russian Center for Science and Culture. European Union National Institutes for Culture operates a cluster of cultural centres from the EU.

Belgrade has a reputation for offering a vibrant nightlife; many clubs that are open until dawn can be found throughout the city. The most recognizable nightlife features of Belgrade are the barges (splav), spread along the banks of the Sava and Danube Rivers. Many weekend visitors prefer Belgrade nightlife to that of their own capitals, due to a perceived friendly atmosphere, plentiful clubs and bars, cheap drinks, the lack of language difficulties, and the lack of restrictive night life regulation.

The city is home to Serbia's two biggest and most successful football clubs, Red Star Belgrade and Partizan Belgrade. Red Star won the 1991 UEFA Champions League (European Cup). The two major stadiums in Belgrade are the Marakana (Red Star Stadium) and the Partizan Stadium. The rivalry between Red Star and Partizan is one of the fiercest in world football.