Pitt to Dedicate Philippine Nationality Room

The newest Nationality Room, the Philippine Room, will be dedicated in a ceremony on Sunday, June 9 — a day nearly two decades in the making.

The formal dedication will take place in the Heinz Memorial Chapel, followed by a cultural festival filled with music, dance performances and traditional Filipino food in the Commons Room in the Cathedral of Learning. Free tours will also be offered of all 31 Nationality Rooms.

The new room brings a taste of the Philippines to the third floor of the Cathedral of Learning, containing artifacts, artwork and architecture typical to the archipelago made up of nearly 7,100 islands. The room reflects the “Bahay na Bato” style, which translates to house of stone, to make a sturdy home that can outlast typhoons, earthquakes and floods that regularly impact the islands.

Established in 1926 by then-Chancellor John Bowman, Pitt’s Nationality Rooms are representative of—and pay tribute to—the cultural groups that settled Allegheny County. The Philippine Room is the 12th room to be dedicated since E. Maxine Bruhns, director of the Nationality Rooms and Intercultural Exchange Programs, began leadership of the rooms in 1965. The Philippine Room is the first to be dedicated since 2015.