On the Road 8 x 30; 24 x 7

05-17-2005 The Parthenon and P.F. Chang's

Nashville's Parthenon is the only full-scale replica of the Greek Parthenon in existence. Created with exacting attention to detail, its massive columns and pleasing dimensions soar against the skyline in Centennial Park. Bob and I had seen pictures of it in the brochures but neither of us was prepared for the size of this thing! It was originally built for Tennessee's 1897 Centennial Exposition (Yes, there were many Expo postcards on display!) celebrating Tennessee's first 100 years of statehood. The Exposition was popular, attracting 1.8 million visitors in six months.

The plaster replicas of the Elgin 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 Naos is the larger of the two halls on the upper level of the Parthenon. The original Naos was specifically designed to house Phidias' 42 foot statue of the goddess Athena, and the Nashville Naos recreates it in size, scale and color. The City of Nashville first undertook the construction of a full-scale replica of the Parthenon to house the international art exhibition for the 1897 Centennial Exposition. It was constructed of brick, wooden lathe and plaster (like the St. Louis World's Fair buildings in 1904) as a temporary structure. It was intended to reflect the city's reputation as the "Athens of the South" due to the educational and arts opportunities afforded by Vanderbilt and another local college. Following the Exposition, due to popular demand, the City left the temporary structure standing. But by 1921, faced with crumbling pediments and decaying plaster that were defacing the city's popular landmark, the Park Board authorized reconstruction with permanent materials. This time, the commitment was to a more complete replica, both inside and out, replicating the floor plan of the original structure.

On May 21, 1931, the Parthenon was reopened to the public, attracting over 10,000 visitors from 46 states and 12 foreign countries during its first month. The Parthenon remained virtually unchanged until 1987, when a radical 20-month renovation was begun; adding the East end ground-level entrance and completely updating the art galleries. The Cowan Collection of American Art was received by the City of Nashville between 1927 and 1929 as an anonymous gift, and represents such notable American artists as William Merritt Chase and Winslow Homer. At his death in 1930 it was learned that the paintings had been given by James M. Cowan. He was an art collector from Chicago who had spent his childhood in rural Tennessee and had visited the 1897 Centennial Exhibition. When he learned that Nashville would build a permanent replica of the Parthenon, he offered to give his personal collection of American art for public display in the Parthenon. The collection, totaling 63 pieces, in all, has been housed in the Parthenon since 1931. Bob and I especially liked Frederic Edwin Church's "The Wreck", Sanford R. Gifford's "Autumn in the Catskills", and Thomas Moran's "Yellowstone."

The centerpiece of the Parthenon, the re-creation of the statue of Athena, is situated in the exact spot in the interior of the Parthenon as the original in Athens, Greece. According to Greek mythology, Athena was born from the head of Zeus, chief of all the gods. She was known as the goddess of wisdom, prudent warfare and the arts. The original Athena Parthenos sculpture was created by Phidias in the 5th century B.C., and was formed of plates of gold and ivory affixed to a wooden frame. Beginning in 1982, Nashville sculptor Alan LeQuire and a handful of assistants from the world over worked to recreate Phidias' masterpiece in Nashville. Athena, at 41 feet 10 inches tall, takes her place as the largest piece of indoor sculpture in the western world. Nike, the winged goddess of victory, stands in Athena's outstretched right palm; her left hand arm support a 17 foot shield and 36 foot spear. The five foot high marble pedestal on which she stands is decorated with bas-relief panels depicting the goddesses and gods present at Pandora's birth. Gold gilding was added to Athena later to complete the authenticity. Bob and I were blown away by the detail and massiveness of this sculpture.

Bob was fascinated by the massive bronze doors on the east and west ends of the Parthenon. These two sets of doors are a matched pair, and are identical to the doors found in the Naos. The doors weigh 7.5 tons each, and are thought to be the largest matching set of bronze doors in existence. They swung easily in spite of their weight and the west end is opened every day.

When you look up at the exterior of the West and East ends of the Parthenon you cannot get a feel for the size of the large figures comprising the pediment sculptures. Each grouping depicts an important story involving Athena. The East Pediment portrays goddesses and gods on Mt. Olympus at the moment of Athena's birth. She stands armed, facing her father Zeus, as Nike prepares to crown her. The West Pediment shows the contest between Athena and Poseidon for control of the land of Attica. Between 1801 and 1804, British diplomat Sir Thomas Bruce, 7th Earl of Elgin, removed a collection of sculptural fragments of both pediments of the original Parthenon in Greece. The fragments, now known as the Elgin Marbles and housed in the British Museum, had been scattered around the Parthenon as the result of an explosion which had caused irreparable damage in 1687. During the rebuilding of Nashville's Parthenon, casts of the Elgin Marbles were purchased from the British Museum for sculptors Leopold and Belle Kinney Scholz use in forming the molds for the pediment figures. I thought it was cool that the originals figures were used and the castings remounted atop this magnificent structure.

Of course I bought postcards in the gift shop. And now I'll have to be on the lookout for Tennessee Exposition postcards. Bob and I walked around the lake on the East side of the Parthenon and fed the ducks. There were ten baby Canadian Geese with their parents splashing in the water. Some park rangers were eating lunch in their truck and tossing French fries to them. They wouldn't eat the cheese popcorn another lady threw to them. By this time Bob and I were starving so we set out on foot to find a restaurant on West End Ave. Lo and behold, right across from Centennial Park was P.F. Chang's China Bistro! It brought back great memories of dinner with our friends Liz and Kenneth in Austin. We shared the Chicken Lettuce Wrap appetizer. I had the Shrimp with Lobster Sauce and Bob tried Almond Cashew Chicken. Both were excellent.