Tales from the Passenger Side

Carnegie Museums of Art and Natural History, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Tales from the Passenger Side
Dippy the Dinosaur is a 3,000-pound, 22-foot-tall, 84-foot-long dinosaur sculpture that stands adjacent to the entrances of the Carnegie Music Hall and Carnegie Museum of Natural History. The statue depicts Diplodocus carnegii — a species whose discovery was funded by Andrew Carnegie himself. The original Dippy skeleton is on display inside the Carnegie Museum of Natural History. Dippy has been seen sporting the colors of athletic teams or a gigantic scarf when it’s cold out!

We made our way back into Pennsylvania after seeing Niagara Falls. Ever since Colorado I have been looking forward to Pittsburgh and the Carnegie Museum of Natural History. When we visited the Dinosaur Fossils Monument in Colorado I was told that some of the best specimens had been sent to Carnegie and I was determined to see them! “Dinosaurs in Their Time” offers the third largest collection of mounted and displayed dinosaurs in the United States, behind the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History and the American Museum of Natural History. This exhibit was my main reason for going to the museum, but I was awestruck by everything else it had to offer and so glad we went! Probably the best museum experience of my life. We took a walk around Schenley Park before we went inside:

The Mary Schenley Memorial Fountain, also known as A Song to Nature, is a 1918 landmark public sculpture in bronze and granite by Victor David Brenner in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania’s Schenley Park. The work of art comprises two major figures: a reclining Pan, the Greek god of shepherds, and a female singer playing a lyre.
The Cathedral of Learning, sometimes referred to as “Cathy” by students, is a 42 story skyscraper that serves as the centerpiece of the University of Pittsburgh’s main campus. The Late Gothic Revival Cathedral is the tallest educational building in the Western Hemisphere. It is a steel frame structure overlaid with Indiana limestone and contains more than 2,000 rooms and windows. We parked right in front and walked over to the museum.
Carnegie Museum grand staircase.
A diorama in Polar World. The life size Polar Bears, Caribou, and Walruses were very realistic.
The Halls of North American and African wildlife were like an indoor zoo! I saw all kinds of exotic animals in their natural habitats through expert taxidermy and beautiful background scenes created by artists. Bighorn Sheep aren’t exactly exotic but they’re still one of my favorites.
The Carnegie Museums of Art and Natural History are two museums in one building, as the name implies. I was wandering through the Hall of Minerals and Gems in the Natural History Museum and suddenly found myself in ancient Greece! The Hall of Architecture blew me away.
 The Hall of Architecture is home to the largest architectural plaster cast in the world—the West Portal of St.-Gilles-du-Gard. The massive 87-foot-wide and 38-foot high cast was painstakingly made directly from the original abbey located in the south of France. 

Andrew Carnegie was one cool dude. He led the expansion of the American steel industry in the late 19th century, became one of the richest Americans in history, then gave most of his fortune away. He became a leading philanthropist in the United States and in the British Empire. During the last 18 years of his life, he gave away roughly $350 million ($5.2 billion in 2020) to many charities, foundations, and universities – almost 90 percent of his fortune. His 1889 article proclaiming “The Gospel of Wealth” called on the rich to use their wealth to improve society, expressed support for progressive taxation and an estate tax, and stimulated a wave of philanthropy.

We were exhausted after touring the museum for about 3 hours. I didn’t spend half as much time in the art museum as I did in the natural history museum, so I feel like I missed out on few things. After a little rest in the van (another reason why we love having a home on wheels — we can take a nap anywhere!), we made an effort to see the Carnegie Library next door. The building itself is a work of art, as a world-renowned example of a style of modernist architecture called brutalism. We also took a drive through the Carnegie-Mellon University before leaving town. Pittsburgh is a very cool city and I’m so glad we were able to visit, however briefly.

Published by Tales from the Passenger Side

One thought on “Carnegie Museums of Art and Natural History, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania”

  1. Amazing architecture in Picksburgh indeed. I’ve heard some people in the Midwest actually pronounce it this way..😁What a magnificent building the ‘Cathy’ is. This Carnegie fellow was certainly ahead of his time. You two left the northeast just in time to escape hurricane Henri..👍 😙s

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