The Austrian Room is a particularly lovely example of one of the many National Rooms found on the first and third floors of Pittsburgh’s Cathedral of Learning. Each of these thematic classrooms was funded by interested representatives of whatever ethnic or national group planning the room, and Austria’s was formally dedicated in 1996. The walls are covered in red Damask fabric, enormous crystal chandeliers hang from the ceilings, and gold inlay adorns many of the furnishings. The long table is made with laquered wood, and hand-painted murals from Ancient Roman mythology enhance the room’s opulence.
The National Rooms are designed to be representative of some of their representative countries’ most notable heritage, and here the Austrian Room has taken cues from the Schloss Esterházy mansion where the Austrian musical composer Joseph Haydn worked for a good part of his career. In fact, the room mirrors in miniature a part of this castle called the “Haydnsall,” a concert hall with its own set of Baroque ceiling paintings of the same subjects as the ones in the Austrian Room.
It’s a pretty sweet place to have a classroom or a study session, both possibilities for current students at the University of Pittsburgh.
