Cathedral of Learning (part 2)

The Nationality Rooms in the Cathedral of Learning. The Nationality Rooms on the 3rd floor are open when classes are not in session; the ones on the first floor are available with a tour guide or via an audio tour. Some of the rooms are decorated for Christmas; in 2005, when my daughter has seen the rooms, it was August…so the decorations were new to us. Each room has a one-page description on the wall near the door.

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I like the wood patterns and folk-art plates in the Ukrainian room. My husband thought the seating looked uncomfortable…but maybe that’s true for most university classrooms.

The Turkish room is probably my favorite. I liked the stained glass, the doorway, and the pattern on the ceiling.

But most of all, I liked the seating. It looked like simple benches along the wall at first. Then I realized that the lighter wood portion was hinged and lowered to make a writing surface…and it worked for both right and left-handed people!

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The Israeli room featured a replica of a mosaic and seating with a unique carving on each seat back.

My daughter and I both remembered the African heritage room. The seating – meant to look like molded clay – is surprisingly comfortable. I liked the fretwork patterns and the art work on the lower part of the wall. Each of the stools has a unique base.

The Indian room had a mix of left and right-handed seating…seemed large enough to hold more people that many of the other rooms.

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The Swiss room included a stove. The building is heated with radiators now, but it is interesting to think about what classrooms in the 1800s would have been like with stoves like these. There is are work everywhere. I liked the sleepy looking owl on fascia.

Do you see the hole in the fascia near the ceiling? That’s where the projector is located. The renovation must have included modernizing the AV technology in all the rooms...but it's always somewhat hidden.

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The Armenian room included a lot of carved wood. They also managed to incorporate chalk boards into the architecture!

The Austrian room was a room with very decorated walls and ceiling. It was also decorated for Christmas with garland over the door and a creche (under glass…apologies for the reflection).

We spent over an hour at the Cathedral of Learning. It had not stopped snowing or gotten any warmer when we emerged outdoors again. It was time to head for home – allowing enough time for the trek to complete while it was still daytime.

 

Cathedral of Learning (part 1)

Our trip to Pittsburgh just before New Years included a walk around the public parts of the Cathedral of Learning. The building is part of University of Pittsburgh built in the 1920s and underwent its latest renovation in 2007. My daughter and I had visited the building in 2005 when we were making a big loop road trip from our home in Maryland up to Chicago and back while she was a new driver. My first impression of the building then (and again now) is that it could be part of a Harry Potter set! There are high vaults

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And unusual furniture.

There are places to study in every nook and cranny…and along hallways. I wondered if the different patterns on the benches reflected when they had been purchased…which ones were there since 1920 and which ones were new with the 2007 renovation. Some of the areas are not well enough lit for reading physical materials; they’re for conversation or work on laptops/phones.

We went up to the third floor to see some of the Nationality Rooms (more about them tomorrow). Looking down to the first floor from this perspective.

We noticed that the snow outside was not ending as the forecast had predicted.

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I didn’t remember the courtyards from our previous visit. The windows looking down to them were single paned but well-sealed. Keeping the Cathedral heating is quite a challenge.

We went up to the 36th floor to see Pittsburgh from that vantage point. Did it look even more snowy?

The floor was part of a library area and I wondered how much of it was original vs from the renovation. Certainly, the stained glass fits the character of the building even if it is relatively new.