You can see it from half of Pittsburgh: a 42-story Gothic tower rising over Oakland, part skyscraper, part cathedral, all classroom. The University of Pittsburgh’s Cathedral of Learning, completed in 1937, is the tallest educational building in the Western Hemisphere — and one of the most beloved buildings in Pennsylvania.
Inside, the three-story Commons Room soars like a medieval great hall. And circling the building are the famous Nationality Rooms: 31 classrooms designed by Pittsburgh’s immigrant communities in their homelands’ styles — a Syrian-Lebanese room of carved cedar, a Ukrainian room of embroidered linen, a Chinese room of lacquer and carved stone — each a love letter from a community to its new city. The rooms are working classrooms, and most are open for tours when classes aren’t in session.
The Cathedral stands at 4200 Fifth Avenue in Oakland, celebrating the 100th anniversary of its 1927 groundbreaking this year. Tour information is at nationalityrooms.pitt.edu.
