In Centennial Park, near Vanderbilt University, you come upon one of the more unexpected surprises in Nashville, Tennessee, an exact replica of the Parthenon. What?!!

This Parthenon is more whole than the real ruins in Athens. But how did it get here?

The replica was built in 1897 for the Tennessee Centennial Exposition. That would be about 1,892 years after the original Parthenon was built. Nashville’s nickname is “Athens of the South”.

It was supposed to be a temporary structure used for the celebration but was rebuilt. The original in Athens housed a large statue of Athena, which no longer exists.

Great effort was made to make the replica as historically accurate as possible, both the exterior and the interior.

I found a sketching spot under a shady tree (it was in the mid-80s even in early October) and sketched the impressive classical architecture of the neo-Parthenon.

In 1982 the Nashville sculptor Alan LeQuire was hired to recreate a 42 foot tall statue of Athena for the interior of the Parthenon. The statue was finally unveiled on May 20, 1990.

The Parthenon was featured at the end of Robert Altman’s masterpiece Nashville. But don’t talk to Nashvillians about the film as Altman was poking fun at the city and the music industry. It didn’t help that he didn’t employ local musicians in any of the roles either as actors or songwriters. This film Nashville is not well loved in Nashville.