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 by Motzl
The Arlberg massif on the border between Vorarlberg and Tyrol enjoys an international reputation as an Alpine skiing center. Tourist facilities in the areas of Kleines Walsertal, the Bregenzer Wald and the Montafon have undergone considerable development. Bregenz (pop. approximately 27,000) on Lake Constance is the capital of Vorarlberg and the seat of the provincial administration. The town is internationally known for its annual summer festival; in the early 80's the new Festival and Congress Hall was opened. The commercial center of
the province is Dornbirn, which also has the largest population (approximately 41,000). Leave a Comment
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 by Motzl
One of the foundations for Vienna's development into a leading European city is its position at the junction between the east-west trade route along the Danube and the long established communications links between the Baltic Sea and the Mediterranean.
Vienna is the seat of the federal legislative bodies, the Federal Government, the central authorities and the supreme courts and a number of international organizations.
It plays host to numerous international conferences (second-ranking venue worldwide) as well as being an important European center for tourists. Magnificent architecture and museums and art galleries containing priceless treasures from virtually every period of western civilization reflect the splendor of the city's past.
Vienna's university, its art collections and a varied theater and concert program of international standard serve to underscore the city's continuing contribution to European cultural life. The Vienna Festival and the Viennale film festival are international attractions.
For many centuries, Vienna was the capital of the multinational Habsburg monarchy. The city acquired a special reputation for its music.
Vienna is also Austria's economic focal point. Numerous firms producing metal products, precision instruments and electrical goods are situated in the area, which also serves as the center for fashions and craftsmanship.
Austria's banks, insurance companies and most other major firms generally have their headquarters in the capital.
The Vienna International Trade Fair is held in spring and autumn, but the city also provides the setting for a wide range of more specialized trade exhibitions which reflect its significance as an international market. Leave a Comment
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 by Motzl
The city of Salzburg (pop. approximately 144,000) is the seat of the provincial government and of the Archbishop of Salzburg. Once the home of Mozart, it developed in the years after 1945, along with the rest of the province, into a focal point for international tourism. The entire ancient city has been preserved and now represents an integral work of art in its own right. The thermal springs in the Gastein Valley have established an international reputation for the spa resorts of Badgastein and Bad Hofgastein. Small towns such as Saalbach/Hinterglemm, Zell am See and Kaprun have become widely recognized in recent years as posh winter sports centers. Kaprun has also attracted widespread interest with the Glockner-Kaprun project, part of
the Tauern hydro-electric complex.
Rapid progress in the tourist sector has been accompanied by similar developments in other specialized ndustrial fields, many of them export-oriented. Culture and science have not lagged behind. The internationally renowned Salzburg Festival, founded in 1920, is supplemented now by the Easter Festival (a creation of Herbert von Karajan) and Whittide concert series. The University of Salzburg was reopened in 1962. Leave a Comment
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 by Motzl
Tyrol is situated at the junction of numerous transcontinental communication links. The Inn Valley freeway, which has now been completed beyond the provincial capital Innsbruck (pop. approximately 118,000) to its planned end in Landeck, and the Brenner freeway are classified routes of vital importance to the all-European networks. The 16 km Arlberg road tunnel provides the first all-weather road link between Vorarlberg and Tyrol. The Felbertauern highway provides a road link between North and East Tyrol without leaving Austrian territory.
The part of the Tyrol southern of the Brenner Pass, South Tyrol has been separated from Austria by the St. Germain Treaty in 1919, although the majority there spoke and still speaks German; today the so called 'package' of measures enhancing autonomy (1969) secures South Tyroleans a special status within the Republic of Italy.
Tyrol is also a center of science education and the arts, encouraging intellectual dialogue and all forms of contemporary art and culture. During the summer months Innsbruck is the setting for the annual Festival of Early Music and the Ambras Palace Concerts.
The European Forum in Alpbach is one of the most important academic meeting places in Europe. Leave a Comment
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Visiting Austria?
Read reviews about Austria Hotels
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 by Motzl
Lower Austria is the province with the highest percentage of its area under cultivation, most of it by agriculture and wine-growing. It is the country's biggest supplier of many agricultural products such as wheat and beet sugar, and such choice Austrian wines as those from the Wachau, the Vienna area, Gumpoldskirchen, Baden and Vöslau are much in demand by connoisseurs.
But Lower Austria, which forms the historic nucleus of Austria as it is known today, also has considerable natural resources and a highly developed industrial sector. Austria's biggest oil fields lie in the north eastern part and the refinery in Schwechat near Vienna has an annual capacity of 12.5 million tons. One of the biggest industrial centers is the southern Vienna basin, where there are textiles and food-processing factories as well as major chemical, steel and other metal plants.
Since the Second World War, hydro-electric plants have been developed on the Danube and a tributary river, the Kamp, to meet Austria's growing power requirements. Some of the country's major oil and coal-fired power stations are also located in the vicinity of Vienna's industrial complexes - the Korneuburg and Hohe Wand power plants, for instance, or the coal-fired power station in Dürnrohr, where Central Europe's only high voltage direct current back-to-back link for the interchange of electricity between Eastern and Western Europe is located. Not far from it there is the building of the first and only nuclear power plant Zwentendorf. It has been built in the seventies, but did not go operational after Austrians decided against nuclear power in a referendum.
Lower Austria is also of major archaeological and artistic interest; there have been significant finds from the Stone Age (like the Venus of Willendorf) and from Roman times (the settlement of Carnuntum); monasteries and churches from the Romanesque and Gothic eras and Baroque abbeys and castles provide a vast field of exploration for those interested in the art of later centuries. The Lower Austrian Danube Festival offers major cultural events in a wide range of fields. Leave a Comment
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 by Motzl
attend the Carinthian Summer Festival.
Southern Carinthia has been the home of a Slovene ethnic group for centuries. In the Gail and Drau valleys, German and Slovene speakers live together.
Among Carinthia's most important natural resources are timber and hydro-electric power. The annual timber fair in Klagenfurt is the most important of its kind in Central Europe. The important hydro-electric plants in the mountains and on the Drau make a valuable contribution to Austria's electricity supplies. In the province's mountain regions iron ore, lead, tungsten, zinc and magnesite are mined. Some of Carinthia's industries belong to the most advanced in the world, like the electronic component production plant in Villach. Among the finished products for which the province is justly famed throughout the world are the sporting guns produced in the Ferlach area. The town of Villach (pop. approximately 55,000), situated not far from the borders with Slovenia and Italy, is the biggest road and rail junction in the eastern Alps. Leave a Comment
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 by Motzl
Styria is in fact Austria's leading mining province, nine-tenths of all the iron ore produced on a national scale coming from the Erzberg (literally 'ore mountain') near the town of Eisenerz, which literally means 'iron ore'. In the west of the province lignite is mined and there are also rich deposits of magnesite, which is exported, along with magnesite products, to many countries. The mining and steel industries have their research center in the Mining University of Leoben.
The iron, steel and engineering industries are based in the Mur and Mürz valleys. Cellulose, paper and electrical industries, the latter covering the entire range from large-scale plant construction to electronics, are also important for the province's economy. The Austrian auto industry, which exports to all parts of the world, is centered on the Styrian provincial capital, Graz (pop. approximately 238,000). Graz is a thriving modern commercial, cultural and educational center whose picturesque historic streets lie below its characteristic
landmark, the clocktower on the Schlossberg. The Styrian Autumn festival is the largest avant-garde festival in Austria and is of more than purely local significance. Leave a Comment
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 by Motzl
The Burgenland is a predominantly agricultural province, its main products being wheat, corn, vegetables, fruit and a large variety of renowned wines. Canning factories have been established near the main agricultural production centers.
The attractive countryside ensures a steady flow of visitors. Especially Lake Neusiedl, Central Europe's only steppe lake, is a tourist attraction.
The provincial capital, Eisenstadt (pop. approximately 10,000), was for many years the home of Joseph Haydn, who is buried there in the unusual Bergkirche, or hill-side church. The Burgenland Haydn Festival is held in Esterházy Palace in Eisenstadt. In July and August operettas are performed on the lake stage in Mörbisch on Lake Neusiedl. The Lockenhaus Chamber Music Festival takes place in July. Leave a Comment
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 by Motzl
The scenery around the lakes of the Upper Austrian Salzkammergut is among the most beautiful in Austria. The water of the Attersee, the Traunsee and the Wolfgangsee, to mention only three of the best known lakes, is not as warm as that in the Carinthian lakes, and the scenery is often starker and more forbidding. Visitors from all parts of the world flock to the Salzkammergut each summer, many of them attracted by the original White Horse Inn in St. Wolfgang on the Wolfgangsee. The town of Hallstatt, on the lake of the same name, gave its name to
one of the most important eras of prehistory.
One of the main economic factors in the hill region to the north is agriculture, but this is also Austria's second most important source of oil and natural gas. Since the Second World War several large-scale hydro-electric power plants have been built along the Danube and its tributary, the Enns.
In addition to tourism and agriculture Upper Austria is also industrially developed and the Steyr-Daimler-Puch plant in Steyr has become a major production center for engines, tractors, trucks and ball bearings.
The region around the provincial capital, Linz (pop. approximately 203,000), with its modern Danube port installations, is a major center for the production of iron, steel and chemicals. By way of a 'cultural contrast' Linz has been holding its International Bruckner Festival since 1974. Austria's biggest aluminum plant is situated near Ranshofen, and Lenzing is a major cellulose and synthetic fabrics center. Trade fairs in Wels and Ried present a comprehensive annual review of the province's industrial achievements and of Austrian agriculture at both the provincial and national level. Leave a Comment
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