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Quick getaway to ... Nationality Rooms
Friday, February 13, 2009

Where: Nationality Classrooms at the Cathedral of Learning at the University of Pittsburgh

  

How far: 10 minutes from Downtown

How much: $3 for adults; $1 for those 8 to 18

Why: With cold weather back it's looking like an indoor kind of weekend. If you haven't yet seen the Welsh Nationality Classroom -- the newest of the 27 classrooms that were built beginning in 1938 -- than it might be a good time. The Welsh room, by far the simplest and plainest of the rooms, mirrors the 600 chapels carved out of barns in the 1700s. The floor was made of dirt and straw and affluent people paid to sit in box pews that had wooden floors and swinging doors. Occupants of box pews lined their space with straw, hot bricks and even curled up with their dogs to stay warm. Tours of the rooms run from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Saturday; 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Sunday; and 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Fun factor: 7

Virginia Linn can be reached at vlinn@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1662.
First published on February 13, 2009 at 12:00 am