page_title: Nationality Rooms
section_title: French
hierarchical_section_title: Nationality Rooms / Classrooms / French
caption_attribution_description: English: French Nationality Room at the University of Pittsburgh This is an image of a place or building that is listed on the National Register of Historic Places in the United States of America. Its reference number is 75001608 More images
context_page_description: The Nationality Rooms are a collection of 31 classrooms in the University of Pittsburgh's Cathedral of Learning depicting and donated by the national and ethnic groups that helped build the city of Pittsburgh. The rooms are designated as a Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation historical landmark and are located on the 1st and 3rd floors of the Cathedral of Learning, itself a national historic landmark, on the University of Pittsburgh's main campus in the Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. Although of museum caliber, 29 of the 31 rooms are regularly used as functional classrooms that are utilized daily by University of Pittsburgh faculty and students, while the other two are mostly used as display rooms viewed through glass doors and are otherwise utilized primarily for special events and can only be explored via special guided tour. The Nationality Rooms also serve in a vigorous program of intercultural involvement and exchange in which the original organizing committees for the individual rooms remain as participants and includes a program of annual student scholarship to facilitate study abroad.
context_section_description: The French Classroom was designed by Jacques Carlu, Director of School of Architecture in Fontainebleau, in the French Empire Period that reflects a French style inspired by the glories of the ancient and classical past that were rediscovered during the Napoleonic campaigns in Greece, Italy, and Egypt. This places the timeframe of inspiration for the classroom in the late 18th century and early 19th century, just after the founding of the University of Pittsburgh in 1787, therefore making it the only classroom which represents an era postdating the founding of the University, although many room elements are influenced by the Palace of Versailles which clearly predates it.  The color scheme of the room is blue-gray, royal blue, and gold, which were suggested by French-American architect Paul Philippe Cret and are typical colors used at the height of the French Empire. The walls of the room are lined with wood paneling in classical proportions, and slender wall pilasters are capped with delicately carved ad gilded crowns. Carved ornaments of the Egyptian griffin and classical rosettes accentuate panel divisions.  A wall cabinet containing art objects, books, and medallions balances the entrance door and maintains the room's symmetry.  Crystal and metal chandeliers, which are simplified versions of those found in Palace of Versailles' Hall of Mirrors, hang from a grey plaster ceiling. A parquet floor pattern also reflects many rooms in the Palace of Versailles. A mahogany professor's chair and table are of the Directoire period design include bronze ornaments imported from France that are replicas of originals of Empire furniture in the Louvre.  The mahogany student tablet armchairs are upholstered in royal blue. On the rear wall, a 16th-century Choufleur tapestry depicts an allegorical woodland scene including, among other animals, a unicorn which often served as a central figure in tapestries and legends from the Middle Ages.  Gold damask draperies with a wreath and lyre motif add to the sense of French opulence and frame the windows which look out on the University's Heinz Memorial Chapel, itself an example of French Gothic architecture inspired by the Sainte-Chapelle in Paris.
caption: The French Classroom
exif: {"Image ImageDescription": "OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA", "Image Make": "OLYMPUS IMAGING CORP.", "Image Model": "FE180/X745", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop CS3 Macintosh", "Image DateTime": "2008:09:25 01:51:43", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image PrintIM": "[80, 114, 105, 110, 116, 73, 77, 0, 48, 51, 48, 48, 0, 0, 37, 0, 1, 0, 20, 0, ... ]", "Image ExifOffset": "980", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "1674", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "6284", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/30", "EXIF FNumber": "31/10", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Creative", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "320", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2008:09:06 14:02:48", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2008:09:06 14:02:48", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "2", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "163/50", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash fired, auto mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "63/10", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "Uncalibrated", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "1126", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "845", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "0", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF GainControl": "High gain up", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal"}