The Parthenon

Who knew Nashville had a full scale replica of The Parthenon in Athens, Greece? Well, we did. We read the Percy Jackson books. 😉

Nashville's Parthenon was built in 1897 as part of the Tennessee Centennial Exposition. It was meant to be temporary. The people lived it so much, they converted it to a permanent structure in the 20's and completed in 1931. Today, it is the centerpiece of Centennial Park and is an art museum.

It was quite impressive and is a replica as close as could be accomplished. The Parthenon in Greece no longer houses Athena's statue, it was lost in time, but artists replicated it as closely as could be accomplished through painstaking research.

The gaudy colors of Athena's face are likely very close to how the original looked. We know that the stark white statues and buildings from ancient greek and roman times were not really stark while. They were all sorts of colors, many outlandish. The pigment had all work away, but using modern technology and techniques we have been able to "see" what they really looked like.

Nashville's Parthenon was a great stop on our trip.Read more