The Cathedral of Learning

Standing tall, 535 feet above the city of Oakland, the Cathedral of Learning is a conspicuous landmark of the city. Located at 4200 Fifth Ave, the Cathedral, houses classrooms, theaters, computer labs, and several departments of the University of Pittsburgh.

The SHRINE Exhibit: Mattress Factory

Founded in 1970, the Mattress Factory is an acclaimed exhibitory art museum in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania that supports the work of local, national, and international artists through a working-residency program.  Beginning on June seventeenth, the Mattress Factory partnered with Sibyls Shrine and began exhibiting a six-site installation named SHRINE.

Hearts Together Tree of Life Exhibit and Community

This memorial is dedicated to the nine Jewish worshippers that lost their lives in the Pittsburgh shooting at the hands of an antisemitic white supremacist on October 27th, 2018 in Squirrel Hill. Following the

Rodef Shalom Biblical Garden

Built in the 1980s by Rabbi Walter Jacob and his wife, Irene, the garden brings biblical history to life through a colorful arrangement of flora, pools of running water, and plaques inscribed with bible verses. With unique attractions and educational programming every summer, the garden is not only a vital part of Jewish life in the city, but a center for interfaith collaboration and unity in Pittsburgh.

Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hall and Museum

In the center of Oakland stands Soldiers and Sailors Museum and Memorial, a building much like a classical temple. But instead of a place of worship, it is a place to honor American veterans and those who lost their lives fighting for their nation.

Mary Schenley Memorial Fountain

Mary Schenley wasn’t a pagan, but she found plenty of other ways to shock the upper-class society into which she was born in the nineteenth century. Born Mary Elizabeth Croghan in 1826, she eloped with a British army captain three times her age when she was fifteen years old and divided the rest of her life between Pittsburgh and London. The Mary Schenley Memorial Fountain, also called “A Song to Nature,” was built near Schenley Plaza in her memory in 1918.

Church Bells of Pittsburgh

The sound of church bells is part of the landscape of sound in Pittsburgh just like car horns honking and helicopters flying overhead to the hospital. But they are also much more than that. Bells can carry meaningful and sometimes secretive histories of the churches where they hang. And for Christians who attend these churches, the sound of church bells ringing creates time and space for prayer outside of the secular world. By doing this, church bells make themselves a vital part of religious expression in Pittsburgh.

Iconostasis of St. John Chrysostom Byzantine Catholic Church

As one of the most distinctive features of an Orthodox or Eastern Rite Church, the iconostasis is a wall that separates the sanctuary, which houses the altar, from the rest of the church and is made up of many different icons and religious symbols.

Jewish Hearts for Pittsburgh

Take a quick stroll down Murray Avenue, one of the main roads in Squirrel Hill, Pittsburgh, and you will see many beautiful knitted Jewish stars hanging all around you. They’re easy to miss at first, but if you really look, you’re sure to find one everywhere you turn. This project was a response to the horrific shooting at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Squirrel Hill in 2018. Communities around the world found creative and impactful ways to provide support and solidarity to Pittsburgh and the Jewish community as a whole.

Greer Lankton Shrines

“It’s all about ME, Not You” is a permanent installation by Greer Lankton at the Mattress Factory in the North Side. A recreation of the artist’s own apartment, the exhibit feature multiple shrines to feminine icons and Jesus. Though some objects appeared in previous artworks, the full installation was initially displayed at the Mattress Factory shortly after her death in 1996 and later re-installed at the museum in 2009.