INDIAN AND JAPANESE ARTIFACTS SELECTED FOR PITT'S TWO NEW NATIONALITY ROOMS

PITTSBURGH, April 16 -- E. Maxine Bruhns, director of the University of Pittsburgh Nationality Rooms Program, will meet with architects in India and Japan to discuss the future Indian and Japanese Nationality Rooms, to collect artifacts and to finalize plans for the design of the rooms.

"The University welcomes the addition of the Indian and Japanese Nationality Rooms which represent two vibrant Pittsburgh communities whose centuries-old cultures continue to influence mankind today," said Pitt Chancellor Mark A. Nordenberg.

In New Delhi this week, Bruhns, and Deepak Wadhwani, architect for the Indian Nationality Room, are meeting with museum directors and visiting archaeological sites to select ancient sculptures for display in the room, which will be constructed soon.

Wadhwani's design features elements from Nalanda, an ancient center of learning which flourished from the third to seventh centuries, attracting 10,000 students from all over Asia. The team will also commission Indian artists to create murals and calligraphed panels for the room.

Bruhns next visits Kyoto, Japan to meet with architect Hirokazu Nagase whose Japanese Nationality Room design replicates a Minka farmhouse room. The structure will be built in Kyoto by traditional woodworkers, then dismantled and shipped to Pittsburgh for reassembly in the Cathedral of Learning by Japanese craftsmen.

-30-