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April 30, 1998

Work continues on plans for two new Nationality Rooms

E. Maxine Bruhns, director of the Nationality Rooms and Intercultural Exchange Programs, met in April with architects in India and Japan to discuss the future Indian and Japanese nationality classrooms, to select artifacts and to finalize plans for the design of the rooms.

In New Delhi, Bruhns and Deepak Wadhwani, architect of the Indian room, met with museum directors and visited archeological sites to select ancient sculptures for replication as displayed objects in the room, which is targeted for completion in late 1998.

Wadhwani's design features elements from Nalanda, an ancient center of learning that flourished from the third to seventh centuries. The team also sought Indian artists to create murals and calligraphic panels for the room. Bruhns then traveled to Kyoto, Japan, to meet with architect Hirokazu Nagase, whose Japanese Nationality Room design replicates a Minka-style room. The structure will be built in Kyoto by traditional woodworkers, then dismantled and shipped to Pittsburgh for reassembly by Japanese craftsmen. Completion of the Japanese room is planned for early1999. Chancellor Mark Nordenberg said, "The University welcomes the additions of the Indian and Japanese Nationality Rooms, which represent two vibrant Pittsburgh communities whose centuries-old cultures continue to influence mankind today." The rooms will represent the 25th and 26th nationality classrooms, which are located on the first and third floors of the Cathedral of Learning.


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