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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
