The Nashville Parthenon: A Brief History & Its Ancient Roots

The Nashville Parthenon

Nestled into Centennial Park in Nashville, Tennessee is a full scale (exterior) replica of the original Parthenon in Athens, Greece. My first thought was… Why? I’m obsessed with interesting roadside attractions so I knew we had to stop here on our road trip back to California. (here are the other things we did in Nashville)

The Nashville Parthenon was originally built for Tennessee’s 1897 Centennial Exposition because of the city’s nickname “Athens of the South”. Several other buildings at the Exposition were based on the ancient originals, however the Parthenon was the only exact reproduction.

It was originally built out of plaster, wood, and brick, not intending to be a permanent fixture. The cost of demolition combined with the overwhelmingly positive attention from residents and visitors made the city reconsider, so they decided to keep it. Over the next 20 years, weather had caused some deterioration, requiring it to be rebuilt (on the same foundations) using concrete. The exterior structure that we see today was completed in 1925.

Currently, the Parthenon serves as Nashville’s art museum. Inside, there is a replica of the original 42 foot Athena statue, as well as, a permanent art collection. The plaster replicas on the exterior of the building were created from casts of the original sculptures (adorning the pediments). The original fragments are currently housed in the British Museum in London.

You can read more about the history here.

The Original Parthenon

The original Parthenon was built on the Greek Acropolis. Sacred to Athena Parthenos it was the first and largest temple to be constructed in the early classical period. The Parthenon is a peripteral temple, meaning that its short side is slightly less than half the length of its long. Except for 4 single ionic columns in the treasury, the parthenon is a classic example of a doric temple. A traditional Doric temple has a rectangular floor plan with low steps on every side, and Doric columns extending around the periphery of the structure. The entrances include an additional 6 columns, and the 4 ionic columns can be seen in the room on the left in the image below:

A common mistake in looking back at Greek sculpture and architecture is that the stone was left in its natural color, when in reality, it would have been painted in vibrant, life-like colors. Over the years, color has worn from sculptures that we see in museums today. The Parthenon would have had vibrantly painted elements, especially the background against which the sculpture sits.

One of the most famous features of the Parthenon is the frieze *not the high-end global art fair*. A frieze is the middle of three main divisions of entablature (section above the capital of the columns). The Parthenon’s frieze consists of alternating triglyphs (vertically grooved blocks) and metopes (plain blocks with relief sculpture). See my diagram below of the Nashville Parthenon:

A Doric frieze was organized according to three rules:

A triglyph must be exactly over the center of each column
A triglyph must be over the center if each intercolumniation (space between columns)
A triglyph must be at the corners of the frieze and must meet so that no space is left over

This logic is faulty as rule #3 cannot be consistently harmonized with rule #2: if the corner triglyphs must meet, they cannot be placed over the center of the corner column. The Greeks were obsessed with logic and creating statements conforming to a rule of validity. They must have found this a constant irritation and it no doubt contributed to the fall of the Doric order; The rise of the Ionic and Corinthian orders had friezes that eliminated these problems.

Nashville Parthenon – note corner triglyphs

The metopes all represent battle scenes, Centaurs and Lapiths, Gods and Giants, Greeks and Amazons, adding dimensionality and movement to the structure. The pediment sculptures (the triangular part at the top – one on each short end) depict a contest between Poseidon and Athena for the right to be the patron deity of Athens (west) and the birth of Athena from Zeus’ head (east).