Parthenon (Nashville)
The Parthenon in Centennial Park, Nashville, Tennessee, United States, is a full-scale replica of the original Parthenon in Athens, Greece. It was designed by architect William Crawford Smith[4][5] and built in 1897 as part of the Tennessee Centennial Exposition.
Location
Nashville, Tennessee, United States
1897 (original structure)
1925–1931 (permanent version)
Classical
February 23, 1972
Today, the Parthenon, which functions as an art museum, stands as the centerpiece of Centennial Park, a large public park just west of downtown Nashville. Alan LeQuire's 1990 re-creation of the Athena Parthenos statue in the naos (the east room of the main hall) is the focus of the Parthenon just as it was in ancient Greece. Since the building is complete and its decorations were polychromed (painted in colors) as close to the presumed original as possible, this replica of the original Parthenon in Athens serves as a monument to what is considered the pinnacle of classical architecture. The plaster replicas of the Parthenon Marbles found in the Treasury Room (the west room of the main hall) are direct casts of the original sculptures which adorned the pediments of the Athenian Parthenon, dating to 438 BC. The surviving originals are housed in the British Museum in London and at the Acropolis Museum in Athens.
Current use[edit]
As an art museum, the Parthenon's permanent collection on the lower level exhibits 63 paintings by 19th and 20th century American artists, donated by James M. Cowan in 1927–1929.[7] Additional gallery spaces provide a venue for temporary shows and exhibits. The main level contains a replica, completed in 1990,[7] of the Athena Parthenos statue that was in the original Parthenon in Athens.
In 1982, Alan LeQuire was commissioned to create the statue of Athena Parthenos[7] as a reconstruction, to scholarly standards, of the long-lost original: she is cuirassed and helmeted, carries a shield on her left arm, a 6-foot-high (1.8 m) statue of Nike (Victory) in her right palm, and stands 42 feet (13 m) high, gilt (as of 2002)[7] with more than 8 pounds (3.6 kg) of gold leaf; an equally colossal serpent rears its head between her and her shield. Some followers of Goddess Spirituality practices have left ritual offerings near the statue.[9]
In the summertime, local theater productions use the building as a backdrop for classic Greek plays such as Euripides' Medea and Sophocles' Antigone, performing (usually for free) on the steps of the Parthenon. Other performances, such as Mary Zimmerman's Metamorphoses, have been held inside, at the foot of Athena's statue.
In 2001, the Nashville Parthenon received much needed cleaning and restoration of the exterior.[7] The exterior lighting was upgraded to allow the columns of the building to be illuminated with different colors than the facade.
In popular culture[edit]
The Parthenon served as the location for the political rally in the climactic scene of Robert Altman's 1975 film Nashville.[10]
It was used as a backdrop for the battle against the Hydra in the 2010 film Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief.[11]
It features in the title and lyrics of the song "Nashville Parthenon" from the album Etiquette, by Casiotone for the Painfully Alone, as well as the song's 2011 sequel "Goodbye Parthenon".
It was used in the 2000 PBS series Greeks: Crucible of Civilization.
A poem titled "Ganymede" in Heather Ross Miller's Celestial Navigator: Writing Poems with Randall Jarrell features the Parthenon.
The structure figures in the climax of the Hector Lassiter novel Three Chords and The Truth, by Craig McDonald.
Statues
The center of the statues
A closer look at the Shield of Athena Parthenos
Greek play, probably 1913 or 1914
