3 Best Sights in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh

Fodor's choice

The the Museum of Art, the Museum of Natural History, the Music Hall, and the Carnegie Library, are all under one Beaux-Arts roof. Don't miss the 19th-century French and 20th-century American paintings, the Hall of Architecture, the Hall of Mammals, Egyptian collections, and one of the country's oldest dinosaur collections.

Fallingwater

Fodor's choice

About an hour and a half southeast of Pittsburgh is Frank Lloyd Wright's residential masterwork—a stone, concrete, and glass house dramatically cantilevered over a waterfall. In 1936, Edgar J. Kaufmann—who'd made a fortune as owner of Kaufmann's, Pittsburgh's premier department store—hired Wright to design a weekend retreat for his family on a piece of land in Mill Run. Wright's design incorporated much of what was already on the site, including rocks, trees, and a rushing creek. Battles of will between Kaufmann and Wright over the details of the house design became legendary. Wright wanted to cover the concrete parapets of the house with gold leaf; Kaufmann didn't. Kaufmann wanted a swimming pool on one of the balconies; Wright didn't. And so on. Despite their many differences, they produced an amazing house. The only way to see the house is on a guided tour; children under six cannot tour the house. Reservations are essential for the detailed tour.

The Andy Warhol Museum

Fodor's choice

The devotes seven floors to the work of the native Pittsburgher and pop-art icon. Set inside an old warehouse, the museum includes thousands of works in many media: painting, drawing, photography, sculpture, film, and video. An enormous collection of source material—audiotape interviews with friends and associates, thousands of photographs, books, and magazines—sheds light on the artist, the man, his creative processes, and his legacy. Many of Warhol's seminal works, like his Brillo Box sculptures and Elvis paintings, are on display, as are rotating exhibits and programs.

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