Glancing at all 42 stories of the Gothic Cathedral of Learning, you are struck by the size and beauty of the University of Pittsburgh landmark. But you cannot guess that it houses 26 Nationality Classrooms — all springing from the diverse population of Pittsburgh — that transport you from ancient Greece through 18th century Europe to Africa and the Far East.

Each of these distinctive classrooms — used during the school year by Pitt students — reflects the heritage of the diverse ethnic groups that came to Pittsburgh and to the United States. By the thousands they came: from Germany, the Ukraine, Italy, Greece, every part of Europe. They brought with them their traditions, cultures, and interests, which America absorbed as her own. This diversity of heritages is venerated at the University of Pittsburgh's Nationality Classrooms.

Not many college students in the United States are lucky enough to study beneath French crystal chandeliers or enter their classroom through a marble doorway quarried from Mount Pentele in Greece. Few professors teach from a hand-carved lectern beneath a portrait of a cultural icon or stand beside stained glass windows depicting German folklore, such as Hansel and Gretel. The Pitt students have an exceptional experience. Their lessons and exams might be as difficult as in any classroom, but the ambiance is extraordinary.

When John Bowman became Chancellor of the University of Pittsburgh in 1921, the college was in debt. Through hard work, ingenuity, and surviving a major economic depression, the determined Bowman fused bankers and businessmen into a supportive force for the tall, Gothic edifice.

Bowman wanted Pittsburgh's citizens, too, to have a stake in the university. The city's many immigrant communities embraced their new country but also wanted their children to appreciate their heritage. Committees were formed in Pittsburgh and the home countries to fund and design classrooms celebrating innovative periods of their ethnicities. There are only a few rules: politics is taboo in the room designs; culture is to be stressed, authenticity of design is important; and the chosen period should be prior to 1787, the date of the U.S. Constitution.

In 1938, the first five were ready — Russian, German, Swedish, Scottish, and Early American. World War II intervened before more could be added. With peace restored, work on the classrooms began anew. By then, Pittsburgh drew immigrants from more areas of the world, bringing their own legacies to be honored in the Cathedral of Learning. As immigrants from Africa, Asia, and Latin America have found their way to Pittsburgh, the classrooms now include these areas. Europe. As time, space, and funding permit, new classrooms are created.

Funded by committees of the newcomers along with those in the home countries, and mostly designed by architects and artists in the motherlands, who carved and constructed from materials of their native lands, each room is historically accurate and unique.

Inside the rooms, descendants of those pioneers who designed, sponsored, and constructed them, now proudly study to make their own way in the world, far from their grandparents' homelands.

Some rooms have an audio narrative that explains the history, various artifacts, and photographs in that room. Walking through the nationality classrooms is an educational experience in about art, crafts, and cultures different from one's own.

Country representations are African Heritage, Armenian; Austrian; Chinese; Czechoslovak; English; French; German; Greek; Hungarian; Indian; Irish; Israel Heritage; Italian; Japanese; Lithuanian; Norwegian; Polish; Romanian; Russian; Scottish; Swedish; Syria-Lebanon; Ukrainian; Welsh; Yugoslav; and Early American.

The French Room, in the French Empire style of the 18th century, has imported crystal chandeliers, a 16th century tapestry, and a parquet floor similar to a pattern in the Palace of Versailles. Representing an entire continent, the African Heritage Room boasts an intricately carved entry door and a plaster frieze with symbols of African culture. Walk into the Irish Room and you enter a room based on a chapel from 10 centuries ago, which includes a replica of the Book of Kells.

An 18th century palace in Peking's Forbidden City is the basis of the Chinese Room. It has a teakwood "moon table," a yin and yang symbol, and ceiling squares showing dragons. The Norwegian Room is like a peasant cottage, paneled in spruce, with a high-sloped ceiling and Norwegian art. The Syria-Lebanon Room, ornate and strikingly beautiful, once was a library in Damascus. Its marble floor, gilded walls, and pierced copper hark back to a wealthy home of 300 years ago.

A paprika red ceiling, porcelain, lace, and stained-glass windows accentuate the Hungarian room. In the English classroom you will find more wood salvaged from the bombed House of Commons than you would find in London.

Painted ceilings, stained glass windows, carved wooden panels, authentic artifacts, crystal, paintings, stained glass-a visit to the Nationality Classrooms is a mini trip around the world, but cheaper, easier, and needing no passport or vaccinations.

IF YOU GO

Tours are given seven days a week (except major holidays). Visit the classrooms in person or take a virtual tour at www.pitt.edu/~natrooms. Information: 412-624-6000.

Kay Grant is a freelance travel writer. To find out more about Kay Grant and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

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