On Tuesday, April 16, the Honors English 12 students took a field trip to tour the University of Pittsburgh’s “Nationality Rooms.”

Led by English 12 teacher Mr. Youngs, the English students took a drive down to Oakland to visit Pitt’s towering Cathedral of Learning.

“It was a really interesting day. Until we went on this field trip, I didn’t even know these rooms existed!” senior Grant Conroy said.

Located on the Cathedral’s first and third floors, the Nationality Rooms are a collection of twenty nine — twenty seven of which are working — classrooms, each dedicated to the people who built up Pittsburgh to be the great city it is today.

Each classroom was built and funded by its respective ethnic group. Each room illustrates some of the architectural design traditions of that nation, as well as many different traditional icons and sentimental antiques.

Despite being used for actual Pitt classes, these rooms are quite like museums. They are there to  honor the cultures of the city’s diverse residents.

Many of the Nationality Rooms have cost a lot to construct. For example, the two most expensive rooms are the Austrian room and the Japanese room. They each cost upwards of half a million dollars to build.

To explore the rich history of all of these rooms, one can go to a tour for only two dollars. Also, an amazing spectacle can be seen in December, when the rooms are decorated for their respective holidays. Pitt hosts open houses to allow anyone to come and witness the spectacular event.

“These rooms remind us of the history and traditions of a bunch of different nationalities,”  Grant said. “It really epitomizes all of the cultural enrichment that Oakland has to offer.”

These nationality rooms are an extremely important monument to most Pittsburgh residents. To them, these rooms are living history to keep their cultures alive. Hopefully, Pitt will continue to build more and expand their outreach to even more nations across the globe