University of Pittsburgh Worship Sites

The University of Pittsburgh has an odd assortment of cathedrals and churches. It's famous for the Cathedral of Learning, a building that really looks like a skyscraper and is not a cathedral at all. Built in the 1930s, it is one of the tallest educational structure in the Western Hemisphere, with forty-two stories of classrooms, auditoriums, academic departments, study labs, etc. The Late Gothic style makes it look impressive. But not like a cathedral. More like something out of Fritz Lang's Metropolis. 

Cathedral of Learning, University of Pittsburgh

Across a field from it is the Heinz Memorial Chapel was also built in the 1930 but in the French Gothic Revival style. Intended for interdenominational use, it has some standard chapel trappings along with some unique choices.

Heinz Memorial Chapel

The interior looks like any classic church built in Europe from the Middle Ages, with high vaulted ceilings and lots of stained glass.

Nave of chapel

The altar is surrounded by choir stalls that would have been used by the monks of a monastery supporting the chapel.

Altar

Above the altar

The stained glass is amazing, and not just in its beauty. The subjects were mostly secular people. Surely they are admirable people but I was expecting saints or biblical figures (most of whom are saints). 

Isaac Newton and Emily Dickinson

Abraham Lincoln

Saint Thomas More (it even admits he's a saint!)

Clara Barton, founder of the American Red Cross

They do have an organ at the entrance though nothing was played while we visited.

The entrance

Across campus is Bellefield Presbyterian Church, which also looks very impressive but is not part of the campus.

Bellefield Presbyterian Church

View from a side street

The story goes that the University of Pittsburgh started as a log cabin in the 1780s. On the campus is a cabin from the early 1800s that represents that first home of education in the area.

Not open for visitors

This is more of a landmark than a religious site but is on the grounds of the Cathedral of Learning, its spiritual successor.

Shrine of the Blessed Mother, Pittsburgh

In the South Oakland section of Pittsburgh, a small shrine to Our Lady overlooks Route 376 along the Monongahela River. We were staying at an AirBnB nearby so I could not resist a visit. According to the geocache post, Mass is said here every 22nd of the month and also on the Solemnity of Mary's Assumption into Heaven, August 15. 

Shire of the Blessed Mother

The shrine was originally built in 1956 overlooking the highway. Many different stories are told about it. The spot is relatively quiet and out of the way, making it ideal for a prayerful visit. It is variously called the Shrine of the Blessed Mother, Our Lady of the Parkway, and Queen of Peace Shrine.

The shrine and me

Another statue of Our Lady

The view down to the Monongahela had a lot of trees blocking it when I was there in June.

View from the shrine

Among the legends about the site, some claim that they had visions of Mary that inspired them to make the shrine. I could not substantiate the rumor of a spring that is in the area. Some claim that the spring was the site the original builders chose. Others claim that they prayed for a water source for the flowers they brought and the spring miraculously appeared. 

As I walked up the street to the shrine, I spotted a rabbit who was extra cute.

At the end of the bricks

As I got closer, the rabbit got only a little farther

Close up of the above picture

Pittsburgh Trip 2026

On our way out to visit colleges in Pittsburgh, we stopped off to find a geocache on the Old Bank Road in Hancock, Maryland. The road was originally a toll road and this house is one of the original buildings along the road. The toll collector lived there. The building has a list of the tolls that were in effect back in 1863.

Toll House

Apparently monster trucks got the best deal

Over in Pennsylvania, we stopped at Moo Echo Dairy, a creamery and bakery that provided some dessert for our trip. The sign below brags about their "A2 A2" milk, which made us a little nervous. Turns out, it is just a genetic situation where the cows only produce A2 beta-casein protein in their milk, which people find more digestible than milk with A1 protein. Most milks have both A1 and A2. It's not a solution for lactose intolerance but it more closely matches human breast milk and thus is thought to be more easily processed by the human digestive tract.

Moo Echo Dairy

We didn't ask about genetic markers for strawberry milk! The ice cream was yummy. I got a maple walnut shake that was very delicious. We also bought cinnamon rolls for the next morning's breakfast.

Taste the calories!

Fun bench outside the store

While in Pittsburgh, my daughter visited some colleges to see if she wanted to go. We parked under the Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hall and Museum which is in the heart of the university district.

Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hall and Museum

My wife took my daughter on the tour of the University of Pittsburgh. I took my son around to see sights and find geocaches. Pitt's mascot is a panther. It has a statue on campus. If you rub the panther's nose, you are supposed to get good luck. My son picked the panther's nose, not sure what that brings.

Pitt Panther

Side view

We saw a wavy building that's part of the university's medical facilities. Just looking at it made me sea sick. Maybe they were trying to get more business?

Kamin Tower

A park bench has a statue of Doctor Thomas Starzl, the father of organ transplants. I sat with him for a fun photo.

Dr. Starzl statue

The city of Pittsburgh has a lot of dinosaur statues around. We spotted this one with letters all over it.

Spellasaurus?

Across the street from the dino is a complex with several museums donated by Andrew Carnegie, the famous millionaire steel baron who donated money to public institutions like the art museum and the natural history museum. 

Art museum

Natural History

Bach statue

Shakespeare statue

With the proximity of the natural history museum, there's another dinosaur on display outside.

Too big for the museum?

We also visited the Carnegie Free Library since a geocache was hidden inside.

The library

A park across the street has a carousel and a restaurant where we rejoined Mom and my daughter for lunch. 

Carousel

For lunch, I had a Penn Brewery Pilsner and a wagyu beef burger with potatoes. When the meal came, we thought the potatoes might be meatballs, they were so brown and glistening! I appreciated the lettuce and tomato being left on the side since I usually don't like those on a burger.

A local brew

Wagyu burger

We wandered over to Carnegie Mellon University where my daughter had a tour.

What the modern art?

My son and I found a weird math sculpture behind the university library. We only went there because of a geocache, of course. 

There was no interpretive sign

Across the road from the university is Schenley Park which has a memorial to George Westinghouse, another local industrialist celebrity. He invented, among other things, the air break for locomotives, revolutionizing the train industry in the mid-1800s. 

Main panel of the Westinghouse memorial

More accomplishments

Yet more accomplishments

A perpetual admirer

The memorial was funded by 50,000 Westinghouse employees who were grateful for his contributions, not only for their employment. 

Walking back toward campuses, we saw the Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Garden.

A different kind of plant

The Mary Schenley Memorial Fountain features statues of the god Pan and the nymph Sweet Melody.

Schenley Fountain

Fountain with the Cathedral of Learning in the background

Back at Carnegie Mellon, we saw a statue of people walking up to the sky. Walking to the Sky is a sculpture that was first displayed in New York City in 2004, then moved to Dallas. This is a copy. Not all the figures at the base are part of the statue--some are curious onlookers!

Walking to the Sky