“Another Chance to View History”
I lived in Nashville, Tennessee for a year and a half and never went inside the Parthenon replica. I would drive into Centennial Park and go bike riding, take my dog for a walk, and even fish at Lake Watauga, which is a small artificial lake inside the park. I recently moved to Newnan, Georgia while my fiancé stayed in Nashville for work. This activity gave me the perfect opportunity to visit the amazing architecture.
While visiting in Nashville on the last weekend of January, I got up Saturday morning and finally visited the recreation of the Parthenon. The first thing I noticed was the huge columns surrounding the building that were first built using plaster then later remodeled with concrete. In the fifth century, the columns were made of hand-cut marble from Mount Pentelicon. As I entered the building, there was information on the first floor about the replica and how it was built. Although it was very interesting to read, I focused on the subject matter from the ancient times.
Both the original Parthenon and the Nashville replica took 10 years to build. The original was built between 447 B.C. and 438 B.C. at the height of what is known as the “Classical Age” of Greece. It was built on the Acropolis of Athens, which represents the artistic developments of the 5th century B.C. The interior of the Parthenon was divided into two rooms. The east room, known as the Naos, houses the statue of Athena. The Naos is 93 feet long and 63 feet wide. The west room is 44 feet long by 63 feet wide and is called the Treasury Room. This room housed the treasure of Athens and the Delian League.
When I got to the second floor of the replica, I stopped dead in my tracks. I was not expecting to see the 41-foot tall statue of Athena. It was astonishing that this magnificent structure from Athens, Greece could be recreated and placed in Nashville, Tennessee. The famous Greek sculptor, Pheidias, created the...