Parthenon Events Schedule

2009 – 2010 Symposia

October 6 – Theoni Pappas – Figuratively Speaking: The Language of Math

October 29 – Rex Wallace – Deciphering Etruscan

November 17 – Jim Womack – James Cowan, Gentleman Collector

December 8 – Richard Vine – John Kingerlee: By Art Alone

January 26 – Susann Lusnia – The Amazing, Colossal Temple

February 11 – Barbara Tsakirgis – Opening the Door to the Ancient Greek House

March 23 – Betsey Robinson – A Corinthian Hydra: The Fountain of Peirene Lost and Found

April 13 – John Oakley – Children in Wartime

All lectures are sponsored by The Conservancy for the Parthenon and Centennial Park and the Archaeological Institute of America.

About the Parthenon

The Parthenon stands proudly as the centerpiece of Centennial Park, Nashville’s premier urban park. The re-creation of the 42-foot statue 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.

Originally built for Tennessee’s 1897 Centennial Exposition, this replica of the original Parthenon in Athens serves as a monument to what is considered the pinnacle of classical architecture. 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. The originals of these powerful fragments are housed in the British Museum in London.

The Parthenon also serves as the city of Nashville’s art museum. The focus of the Parthenon’s permanent collection is a group of 63 paintings by 19th and 20th century American artists donated by James M. Cowan. Additional gallery spaces provide a venue for a variety of temporary shows and exhibits.

The Parthenon, aptly located in the “Athens of the South,” Nashville, TN, is the world’s only full-scale replica of the original Greek temple built in Athens during the 5th century B.C. The building is identical to the original and even includes a 42-foot replica of the Athena statue that once stood in the original Parthenon, completed in 1990 by Nashville sculptor Alan LeQuire. This monument to classical architecture is also Nashville’s foremost art museum, featuring a permanent collection of 63 paintings by 19th and 20th century American artist.

The Parthenon was originally a temporary structure, built as part of Tennessee’s 1897 Centennial Exposition by local architect Russell Hart. The building was left standing because of its immense popularity and was eventually reconstructed with permanent materials by The Foster and Creighton Company. The Parthenon reopened in 1931, complete with three sections: the Naos (where Athena stands), the larger of the two halls on the upper level of the building; the Treasury located at the west end of the building, adjacent to the Naos (the room where all treasures brought to Athena were kept in the original Parthenon); and the lower level art galleries consisting of the gallery lobby, the East Gallery, the West Gallery and the Cowan Gallery.

The Parthenon’s permanent collection of 19th and 20th century American artists includes Winslow Homer, William Merritt Chase, and Albert Bierstadt. This collection was donated to the Parthenon in the late 1920s by James M. Cowan. In addition to the permanent collection, the Parthenon’s art galleries host various exhibitions that change at intervals of approximately eight weeks. Casts from the Elgin marbles, sculptural fragments taken from the original Parthenon, are displayed on the building’s upper level. These casts were used by sculptors Belle Kinney Scholz and Leopold Scholz in forming the models for the Nashville Parthenon’s pediment figures.

Contact Us :

• Location:
  Centennial Park, West End at 25th Ave., N, Nashville, TN 37203
• Main Phone: (615) 862-8431
• Main Fax: (615) 880-2265
• Mailing Address: The Parthenon, P O Box 196340, Nashville, TN 37219-6340
• Visit their Web site at: http://www.nashville.org/parthenon/