The Parthenon resides in Centennial Park of Nashville. This replica of the original Parthenon in Athens serves as a monument to what is considered the pinnacle of classical architecture. Nashville also uses this as a great opportunity for a art museum.
The 42-foot statue re-creation of Athena is the focus of the Parthenon just as it was in ancient Greece. The building and the Athena statue are both full-scale replicas of the Athenian originals.
The Parthenon was originally built for Tennessee's 1897 Centennial Exposition. The plaster replicas of the Parthenon Marbles found in the Naos are direct casts of the original sculptures which adorned the pediments of the Athenian Parthenon, dating back to 438 B.C. Originals of these powerful fragments are housed in the British Museum in London.
Nashville Parthenon Facts
• The huge bronze doors on either end weigh 7.5 tons each. These doors are 24' high, 7' wide and 1' thick. There are a total of four doors to these sizes in the Pathernon. This makes them the Largest set of matching bronze doors in the world!
• The Pathernon faces east just like it's predecessor in Greece.
• Before 1988 visitors would enter Nashville's Parthenon through the doors at the west end of the building. Now vistors must enter the Parthenon through the east end of the building. The reason for the change is that ancient Greeks considered the east facade the "front" of the building.
• Athena stands 41'10" tall which makes her the Largest piece of indoor sculpture in the Western World.
• Nike's statue in Athena's right hand is 6'4" tall.
• Athena's breastplate, bracelets and belt have eleven snakes represented.
• Nashville's Athena was shown to the public May 20, 1990. The sculptor is Alan LeQuire.
• Nashville's Parthenon is 65 feet high.
Centennial Park (Nashville) is a large urban park located approximately two miles (three km) west of downtown Nashville, Tennessee, across West End Avenue (U.S. Highway 70S) from the campus of Vanderbilt University and adjacent to the headquarters campus of the Hospital Corporation of America.
Lake Watauga is a small artificial lake in Centennial Park
The 132-acre park was originally farmland which was turned into the state fairgrounds after the Civil War. From 1884 to 1895, the site served as a racetrack and was known as West Side Park. In 1897, it was the site of the Tennessee Centennial and International Exposition and was renamed Centennial Park. After the exposition ended, most of the building and exhibits (with the exception of a full-scale model of the Athenian Parthenon) were dismantled, leaving in its place a landscaped open area with a small artificial lake (named "Lake Watauga" after the region in western North Carolina where many of Nashville's early settlers moved from), sunken gardens, and a bandshell. This area became an important recreation site for white Nashvillians; "Jim Crow" laws forbade its use by blacks until the 1960s, which resulted in disagreements which led to the closure of the park's swimming pool and its subsequent reopening as an arts center.
The Parthenon replica, built largely out of plaster as a temporary exhibit building (the Nashville pavilion of the Centennial Exposition) began to fall into disrepair and was proposed for demolition on several occasions, but public sentiment in favor of this symbol of Nashville as the "Athens of the South" precluded this. Finally, in the 1920s it was agreed to replace the temporary plaster building with a permanent, concrete and steel replacement which remains today and has been refurbished on several occasions. It functions today primarily as an art gallery. It contains a statue of Pallas Athena, said to be the largest indoor sculpture in the Western world, which was commissioned by the city and realized by the renowned Nashville sculptor Alan LeQuire. Owing to the completeness and the multiple color surface painting (called polychrome), this replica is arguably closer to what the Athenians saw than are the current ruins in Athens.
From 1954 to 1967, the Parthenon was the backdrop for an enormous nativity scene sponsored by the now-defunct Harvey's department store. The scene was approximately 280 feet long, 75 feet deep and was flooded with colorful lights. However, the Italian firm from which the Harvey family had purchased it went out of business soon afterwards. Hence, no authorized repairs, technical support, or even reliable guides to proper maintenance of the fixtures were available. By 1968, the fixtures were in such serious disrepair the nativity could not be exhibited. Financial responsibility became too much for Harvey’s and the city of Nashville and the scene was sold to a Cincinnati shopping center. According to the Nashville Banner, the nativity scene was shown only two Christmas seasons in Cincinnati before it collapsed and was discarded.
Centennial Park is the site of the climactic scene in Robert Altman's Nashville, a picture beloved of many film critics.
There were many mature shade trees in the park until the Nashville Tornado of 1998; most of them were damaged or destroyed in the storm. The park was also the site of the storm's sole fatality, a Vanderbilt ROTC cadet. Since then, the park and other areas of outdoor gathering in the Nashville area have been equipped with storm-warning sirens.
On November 11, 2005, Centennial Park became Nashville's first wireless internet park by offering free Wi-Fi internet access to park patrons.
The park also contains a recreation center and is the home of the administrative offices of the city's Department of Parks and Recreation.