Mary Schenley Memorial Fountain

Mary Schenley wasn’t a pagan, but she found plenty of other ways to shock the upper-class society into which she was born in the nineteenth century. Born Mary Elizabeth Croghan in 1826, she eloped with a British army captain three times her age when she was fifteen years old and divided the rest of her life between Pittsburgh and London. The Mary Schenley Memorial Fountain, also called “A Song to Nature,” was built near Schenley Plaza in her memory in 1918.

Church Bells of Pittsburgh

The sound of church bells is part of the landscape of sound in Pittsburgh just like car horns honking and helicopters flying overhead to the hospital. But they are also much more than that. Bells can carry meaningful and sometimes secretive histories of the churches where they hang. And for Christians who attend these churches, the sound of church bells ringing creates time and space for prayer outside of the secular world. By doing this, church bells make themselves a vital part of religious expression in Pittsburgh.

Iconostasis of St. John Chrysostom Byzantine Catholic Church

As one of the most distinctive features of an Orthodox or Eastern Rite Church, the iconostasis is a wall that separates the sanctuary, which houses the altar, from the rest of the church and is made up of many different icons and religious symbols.

Jewish Hearts for Pittsburgh

Take a quick stroll down Murray Avenue, one of the main roads in Squirrel Hill, Pittsburgh, and you will see many beautiful knitted Jewish stars hanging all around you. They’re easy to miss at first, but if you really look, you’re sure to find one everywhere you turn. This project was a response to the horrific shooting at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Squirrel Hill in 2018. Communities around the world found creative and impactful ways to provide support and solidarity to Pittsburgh and the Jewish community as a whole.

Greer Lankton Shrines

“It’s all about ME, Not You” portrays Greer Lankton’s icons: illness, Jesus, and femininity. Shrines, handmade doll sculptures, and curated collections exhibit Lankton’s personal idols in a recreation of her apartment.

Shrine of the Blessed Mother: Our Lady of the Parkway

Though a definitive legend of its founding has been lost to history, stories of visions, finding a crucifix, and other miracles have been common since the shrine was built in the 1950s.

#HeartsTogether Tree of Life Exhibit

By Macie Gelb December 2019 The #HeartsTogether display is a digital catalog of all the art submissions sent to Tree of Life Or L’Simcha Congregation in Pittsburgh, PA in the wake of the October, 2018 mass shooting that took place there. This exhibit is part of the outpouring of support sent to Pittsburgh and the…

Allegheny Cemetery’s Garden of Peace

Though the cemetery itself has no official religious affiliation, the statue of Christ reflects the prominence of Christianity in the surrounding community.

Pittsburgh Crèche

By Benjamin Staudenmayer December 2019 The Pittsburgh Crèche describes an image with which most Christians are familiar: baby Jesus in the manger. While most Crèches are small handcrafted objects, the Crèche in Pittsburgh is quite the opposite. Located in the US Steel Tower Plaza downtown, this larger than life nativity scene display uses 66,000 pounds…