Pittsburgh is one of the largest cities in the US state of Pennsylvania. The town’s history dates to 1754, when the French built Fort Duquesne on the site of a trading post that was here since the 1740s. The English overcame the French fort in 1758, which they renamed Pittsburgh after William Pitt. They established Fort Pitt from 1759 and there were about 400 inhabitants in the town in those years.

The city grew to 1,565 residents in the year 1800, and in the first half of the 19th century, Pittsburgh was greatly expanded, and already in 1815 there was a significant metal industry and other factories in the city. Factories benefited from the area’s coal mines, which themselves attracted many new residents, and increased arms production during the American Civil War gave further prosperity.

At the turn of the 20th century, Pittsburgh was the eighth largest city in the United States, and it was the center of the country’s important steel industry, and during World War II, production was ramped up even further. Pittsburgh grew continuously with new suburbs, and there was a construction boom in the downtown area in the 1900s, where initiatives were launched to later revitalize the old industrial city.

Today, Pittsburgh is a big city with a lot of sights and a beautiful location. Downtown Pittsburgh is located between the Allegheny River and Monongahela River at their confluence where they form the Ohio River. You can, for example, start a stroll in the city at Market Square, a cozy urban space between Pittsburgh’s skyscrapers. Market Square was laid out in 1784 and has over the years housed several market buildings. Today there are ongoing activities on the square.

From Market Square you can walk to the rest of downtown, also called the Golden Triangle, and it is a place where industrialists have made fortunes. Since the earliest high-rises in the late 19th century, Pittsburgh has been built tall, and you may notice the 177-meter-high Art Deco skyscraper Gulf Tower from 1932, the 193-meter-high PPG Place with its four spiers from 1984 and the U.S. Steel Tower from 1970 with a height of 256 meters.

The tip of downtown’s golden triangle is formed by Point State Park, which is the site where the French Fort Duquesne was built in 1754, and where the British built Port Pitt from 1759. You can see the outline of both forts in paving over the park’s lawns, and in Fort Pitt’s Monongehela Bastion you can visit the Fort Pitt Museum. At the far end of the Ohio River, you can see the Point State Park Fountain, and there is a panoramic view of the rivers and the Pittsburgh skyline from here.

Being in Point State Park, you can clearly see the ridges on the opposite side of the Monongahela River. It is the hill Mount Washington that rises in the landscape, and from the top you can enjoy Pittsburgh’s most iconic and unforgettable view of the downtown skyscrapers and the city’s rivers. The way to the view is good as well, since you can board the Duquesne Incline, which is a funicular that was opened in 1877. The length of the trip is 242 meters, and you climb 122 meters. You can also go to the top with the cable car Monongahela Incline, which is a little further south than the Duquesne Incline.

Pittsburgh is famous for the skyscraper Cathedral of Learning that stands east of the city center. As the name indicates, the 163-meter-tall building from the 1930s is part of the University of Pittsburgh. The interior of the high-rise building ranges from the cathedral-like Commons Room to 31 Nationality Rooms, each representing a different culture. In the same area, you can visit the Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens, which the steel and real estate magnate Henry Phipps Jr. built and donated to the city in 1893. In the area, there are many different gardens, greenhouses, etc.

There are several museums in Pittsburgh for those interested as well. You can, for example, visit The Andy Warhol Museum, which focuses on the pop art artist’s life and works, he was born in 1928 in Pittsburgh. The Carnegie Museum of Natural History is another option. It is one of several Carnegie museums in the city, which also houses the Senator John Heinz History Center, which tells American industrial history in an interesting way with a focus on Pittsburgh, where, for example, the world’s first Big Mac was served in 1967.