The Parthenon (Nashville)

The Parthenon stands in Centennial Park, west of downtown Nashville, Tennessee. It is a full-scale replica of the Parthenon on the Acropolis of Athens and is owned and run by Metro Nashville Parks.

The first version was built in 1897 of plaster, brick and wood for the Tennessee Centennial Exposition, reflecting the nickname of Nashville as the Athens of the South. It proved so popular that it was kept, but the temporary materials decayed. Between 1920 and 1931 it was rebuilt in concrete on the same footprint, following detailed measurements of the original temple.

Inside, the main hall holds a statue of Athena Parthenos by the Nashville sculptor Alan LeQuire, unveiled in 1990 and gilded in 2002. The statue stands about 13 metres (42 feet) high. Copies of the Parthenon Marbles pediment sculptures are displayed in the hall. The lower level is an art museum with 63 paintings by 19th and 20th century American artists, donated by James M. Cowan between 1927 and 1929, and changing exhibitions. The surrounding park has a lake, walking paths and a bandshell.

The museum charges $15 for adults and $10 for seniors aged 62 and over and young people aged 4 to 17; children under 4 enter free. Tickets are sold on site only. The exterior and Centennial Park are free to visit.

The idea came from Major Eugene Castner Lewis, director of the 1897 exposition and chief engineer of the Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railroad. The architect William Crawford Smith drew up the copy, and the sculptor George Julian Zolnay, hired in 1895, modelled its decoration. Of all the exposition buildings, the Parthenon was the only one the city kept on site; the Knights of Pythias Pavilion survived too, but it was moved to Franklin, Tennessee. The nickname Athens of the South, earned by the city's many colleges, is what made a Greek temple the natural centrepiece of the fair.

The building had a lively public life between its two versions. Spring pageants in 1913 and 1914 had casts of up to 500 people and drew audiences from neighbouring states. Inside the current building, the plaster figures in the Treasury Room are direct casts of the pediment sculptures from the Athenian Parthenon of 438 BC. Robert Altman filmed the closing political rally of his 1975 film Nashville on the steps, and the Parthenon was added to the National Register of Historic Places on 23 February 1972.

Museum hours are 9 am to 4:30 pm Monday to Wednesday and on Friday and Saturday, 9 am to noon on Thursday and 12:30 pm to 4:30 pm on Sunday, with closures on Metro Nashville holidays. Card payments carry a 2.3 per cent fee. Educators, college students and military members with ID get $2 off the adult ticket, and SNAP/EBT cardholders enter free with up to four people.