Nashville, Tennessee

The Parthenon Replica

Day 40: Friday, September 21, 2001

Like so many structures that were planned as a temporary attraction for a celebration or fair, Nashville's replica of the Parthenon of Athens, Greece was so well received that the people wanted it to be a permanent part of the city. So they have worked to make it durable.

Like the Parthenon in Athens, scaffolding graces the side of this one.

Athena

Historians believe the Parthenon was built as a temple dedicated to the goddess Athena.
Posing for another photo, these tourists gave scale to the statue.

Athena's Shield Historians believe the statue of Athena that once stood in the center of the Athenian Parthenon was gold. The Nashville sculptor gilded the figures on Athena's base. After the Golden Age of Greece, the Parthenon was used to store ammunition by the conquering Turks. While used for this purpose, the building was shelled and the ammunition inside exploded, destroying the old temple. Now tourists visit the partially reconstructed ruins. Scaffolds are in place to aid the work of reconstruction.

Click here to see pictures of the Athens Acropolis and Parthenon taken on a 1997 trip there.

We wish we could stay and enjoy more of Nashville's attractions, but we have been on the road 40 days. We will go to the northern terminus of the Natchez Trace Parkway and travel southwest to Jackson, Mississippi. Our next pictures will be those taken along the parkway.