The Parthenon at Nashville
In 1896 the State of Tennessee attained its full century statehood. To celebrate that important event in the life of the State the Tennessee Centennial Exposition was held in Nashville the following year. Nashville had long been known as the “Athens of the South” because of its many schools and colleges and accompanying culture, and it is not surprising that the director general of the exposition, a man noted for his culture and love of art, conceived the idea of having as the gallery of fine arts for the exposition a reproduction of the Parthenon at Athens.
In the successful prosecution of the work there was no time for research and study. Relying on existing information, a very creditable building was erected of laths and plaster in the few months available.
The “Gallery of Fine Arts” attracted so much favorable attention during the exposition that at its close the people of Nashville, having become greatly attached to it, insisted that it should not be torn down when the exposition buildings were destroyed. The Board of Park Commissioners of the City of Nashville obtained approximately one hundred and fifty acres of land surrounding the building and laid out what is now beautiful Centennial Park. Built to last a year, the much loved building stood for nearly twenty-four years until, in spite of every effort made for its preservation, it became a greater ruin than its prototype in Athens.
The Board of Park Commissioners had long had as a cherished objective the reproduction of the Parthenon in permanent materials. This was an ambitious undertaking for a city much larger than Nashville, and it was not until 1920 that the old building was torn down and on its site the present reproduction of the Parthenon at Athens was begun. Competent architects, artists, and archaeologists were employed, who devoted the best efforts of their careers to the work. No effort was too great, no money was spared, to make the Parthenon as near as was humanly possible a reproduction of the original as it existed as the temple of Athena in the fifth century, B.C.
The chief difference between the original and the reproduction lies in the materials of which they were made. The Parthenon at Athens was built of Pentelic marble quarried near by, while that at Nashville is of reinforced concrete finished by a patented process which, under the influence of electric lights, very closely resembles marble. The Pentelic marble of the original had a small content of iron, which became oxidized and the color of the ruin at Athens is now a brownish yellow from the iron oxide stain.
By the use of concrete in the building at Nashville three important advantages were obtained: durability, economy, and the privilege of seeing the Parthenon in two colors. Concrete is the most durable of all building materials and the most economical. By a careful selection of materials, the color of the Parthenon at Nashville in daylight is brownish yellow, the same as the ruin at Athens. This effect was obtained by using, as the aggregate of the concrete, a brownish yellow gravel from the bottom of the Potomac River in Virginia.
The Parthenon at Nashville is floodlighted for an hour and a half each night and is indeed a beautiful sight, one of the most beautiful in the world; the lighting plan having been carefully designed by the Engineering Staff of the General Electric Company. A writer in one of the leading newspapers in America said, “If I am ever so fortunate as to reach the Pearly Gates of the New Jerusalem, I shall expect to find nothing more radiantly beautiful than the Parthenon at Nashville at night.”
It is regretted that there was no acropolis on which to locate the reproduction in Nashville. However, this defect in the setting was to some extent atoned for by building it adjacent to a small lake and surrounding it with a beautiful park.
The Parthenon at Athens had no basement, but in the reproduction a basement was added to house a museum of fine arts. Thus the spirit of the Parthenon, always a temple of some god, is not violated by the hanging of pictures on its walls.
Begun in 1920, because of the research necessary to make it a reproduction of the original as it was in the beginning, the Parthenon at Nashville required eleven years for completion. The exterior was finished in 1925, and the Parthenon was thrown open to the public on May 20, 1931, six years having been necessary to complete the interior.
Showing a Section of East Portico with Closed Doors
Shadows on the Parthenon at Nashville showing the “Greek Urn” in End of Exterior Corridor