Donaustrand

since April 08

A new leisure park was created in the heart of the city – and a refreshing bathing in the Danube can again be indulged in.
Linz on the Danube, a city on the water’s edge: In Linz, as opposed to Vienna, the river really flows right through the city. The Danube and its recreational potential is just a stone’s throw away from the city centre – and that potential is all the greater now that the quality of the river’s water is as good as that of the Upper Austrian lakes. The newly constructed DONAUSTRAND will offer the Linzers one more possibility to literally get in touch with their river. In what is called a win-win situation these days, the embankment zone is given a new makeover and the Danube is firmly integrated into the public space. The river and its banks with their grassy expanses are drawn closer to the city. Drawing nature into an urban setting is bound to make a substantial contribution to the quality of life in a city that is perhaps not everyone’s top favourite in the clean environment stakes, even though green areas and water account for 65 % of Linz’s surface area. This new recreational and bathing area on a flat gravel bar will also result in a hydroecological upgrading of the Linz stretch of the Danube and its banks. It was made possible by ‘via donau’ and doubles as an additional venue for Linz09.

At the behest of the State Government a first bathing area ‘for the general public’ was cordoned off by a swimming barrier way back in 1802; it was situated off ‘Fischer in Gries’ (today Hafenstraße 46). In 1891, a swimming bath for river-swimming was installed upstream from the Urlaubstein, which was moved to a location at the Obere Donaulände opposite the ‘Roter Krebs’ hotel in 1892. A Danube swimming bath was erected for the population of Urfahr in 1891 by the Verschönerungsverein Urfahr. In 1897 its administration passed into the hands of the Town Council, which did not save it from being destroyed two years later by a flood. Outside the public swimming baths, swimming in the open river was popular right up to the beginning of the 20th century. One of the most popular places to do so was the Winterhafen. (Quoted from Badefreuden in Alt-Linz, Linz City Archive.)

WHERE //
Donaulände between River Kilometer 2133,0 und 2132,7

In cooperation with via donau