Sights in Pittsburgh
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Cathedral of Learning
- Pittsburgh, USA
- Sights › Tower
The University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University are here, and the surrounding streets are packed with cheap eateries, cafés, shops and student homes. Rising up from the center of the U Pitt campus is the soaring Cathedral of Learning, a grand, 42-story Gothic tower which, at 535ft, is the second-tallest education building in the world. It houses the elegant Nationality Classrooms, each representing a different style and period, with gorgeous details such as the red-velvet upholstered chairs of Austria; most are accessible only with a guided tour.
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Monongahela Incline
The South Side, bursting with shops, eateries, bars and cool characters, is a great place for strolling. To see it from above, ride the Monongahela Incline. The historic funicular railroads that run up and down Mt Washington's steep slopes and afford great city views (and along which a young Jennifer Beals rode her bicycle in the classic '80s film Flashdance). You can also try the Duquesne Incline (www.incline.pghfree.net).
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Andy Warhol Museum
The Andy Warhol Museum celebrates Pittsburgh's coolest native son, who became famous for his pop art, avant-garde movies, celebrity connections and Velvet Underground spectaculars. Exhibits include celebrity portraits, while the museum's theater hosts frequent film screenings and quirky performers. Friday-night cocktails at the museum are popular with Pittsburgh's gay community.
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Frick Art & Historical Center
East of Oakland, in Point Breeze, is the wonderful Frick Art & Historical Center, which displays some of Henry Clay Frick's Flemish, French and Italian paintings in its Art Museum; assorted Frickmobiles like a 1914 Rolls Royce in the Car & Carriage Museum; more than five acres of grounds and gardens; and Clayton, the restored 1872 Frick mansion.
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Interior Design District
Formerly gritty Lawrenceville has recently become the city's Interior Design District, comprising the stretch on and around Butler Street from 16th to 62nd Sts. It's a long and spotty strip of shops, galleries, studios, bars and eateries that's on every hipster's radar, and runs into the slowly gentrifying Garfield neighborhood, a good place for cheap ethnic eats.
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Carnegie Museums
Nearby are two Carnegie Museums - the Carnegie Museum of Art, with terrific exhibits of architecture, impressionist, postimpressionist and modern American paintings; and the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, featuring a complete Tyrannosaurus skeleton and exhibits on Pennsylvania geology and Inuit prehistory.
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August Wilson Center for African American Culture
- Pittsburgh, USA
- Sights › Other
In September 2009 the August Wilson Center for African American Culture christened it's strikingly contemporary new building, which houses a museum, classrooms and performance space.
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Pittsburgh Children's Museum
The Pittsburgh Children's Museum features loads of interactive exhibits, including a chance for kids to get under the hood of real cars and some child-friendly Warhol works.
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Carnegie Science Center
Carnegie Science Center, great for kids, is a cut above the average hands-on science museum, with innovative exhibits on subjects ranging from outer space to candy.
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Pittsburgh Zoo & Ppg Aquarium
- Pittsburgh, USA
- Sights › Other
Folks with kids to entertain might want to seek out the Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium, or for wet fun in the summer, the Sandcastle Waterpark.
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PNC Park
- Pittsburgh, USA
- Sights › Other
Also on the North Side, just by the Allegheny River, is PNC Park, where the Pittsburgh Pirates major-league baseball team bases itself.
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Temple Sinai
Temple Sinai is a synagogue that's housed in the architecturally stunning Elizabethan-style former mansion of John Worthington.
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Station Square
Station Squareis a group of beautiful, renovated railway buildings that now comprise what is essentially a big ol' mall.
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Mattress Factory
- Pittsburgh, USA
- Sights › Other
Also not to be missed is the Mattress Factory, hosting unique installation art and frequent performances.
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Fort Pitt Museum
The park's renovated Fort Pitt Museum commemorates the historic heritage of the French and Indian War.
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Allegheny County Courthouse
Allegheny County Courthouse is a 19th-century Romanesque stone building that fills two city blocks.
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Society for Contemporary Art
- Pittsburgh, USA
- Sights › Other
stop in at the Society for Contemporary Art for cutting-edge crafts and other art exhibitions.
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National Aviary
The National Aviary is another treat, with more than 600 exotic and endangered birds.
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Western Pennsylvania Sports Museum
The Western Pennsylvania Sports Museum, focuses on champs from Pittsburgh.
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Sandcastle Waterpark
For wet fun in the summer visit Sandcastle Waterpark.
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Tour-Ed Mine
- Pittsburgh, USA
- Sights › Mine
To experience something of the claustrophobia and learn about the working lives of coal miners, take this tour 160ft below the earth's surface.
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Senator John Heinz Pittsburgh Regional History Center
The remodeled brick warehouse offers a good take on the region's past, with exhibits on the French and Indian War, early settlers, immigrants, steel and the glass industry; it's also home to the Western Pennsylvania Sports Museum, focusing on champs from Pittsburgh. Fun interactive exhibits for kids and adults who refuse to admit their shot at professional sports has passed them by.
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Point State Park
- Pittsburgh, USA
- Sights › Park
At the triangle's tip is the renovated and beautified waterfront, which is popular during summer with strollers, cyclists, loungers and runners; for a longer run, head to the 11-mile gravel-paved Montour Trail, accessible by crossing the 6th St Bridge and catching the paved path at the Carnegie Science Center. The park's renovated Fort Pitt Museumcommemorates the historic heritage of the French and Indian War.
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Phipps Conservatory
An impressive steel and glass greenhouse with beautifully designed and curated gardens.
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Monongahela & Duquesne Incline
- Pittsburgh, USA
- Sights › Tram
The historic funicular railroads (c 1877) that run up and down Mt Washington's steep slopes afford great city views, especially at night. At the start of the Duquesne Incline is Station Square, a group of beautiful, renovated railway buildings that now comprise what is essentially a big ol' mall. Rising up from the bustling South Side valley is the neighborhood called the South Side Slopes, a fascinating community of houses that seem perilously perched on the edge of cliffs, accessible via steep, winding roads and hundreds of stairs.
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