The Fall Event 2019 Brochure FE 2019 Brochure.050919.hyperlinks | Page 11

The Fall Event Tour
Wednesday, September 25
The Parthenon
STOP 2
Our second stop is The Parthenon. Standing proudly
as the centerpiece of Nashville’s Centennial Park.
The building and the Athena statue are both full-
scale replicas of the Athenian originals.
Nashville’s Parthenon Is a full-scale replica of The
Parthenon in Athens, Greece and was originally built for
Tennessee’s 1897 Centennial Exposition.
Like her predecessor, the Nashville Athena is
42 feet tall making her the Western Hemisphere’s tallest
indoor statue. Alan LeQuire, a native Nashville artist, was
commissioned to build her; the process took eight years,
and she was finally unveiled in 1990. Twelve years later,
in 2002, she was covered in 23.75-carat gold leaf.
The Parthenon combines art and design, which
parallels perfectly with horticulture. It’s no secret
that numbers and nature are closely aligned, but
as garden retailers, we can get too focused on the
numbers... transaction counts, average sales, and
the bottom line. So it’s important that we take a step
back from time to time and look outside the box for
inspiration to help us with the art of garden retailing.
Long before Nashville earned the title Music City,
it was known as the “Athens of the South” with its
numerous higher education institutions, and being
the first American southern city to establish a public
school system. Nashville was recognized as one of
the most refined and educated cities of the south,
filled with wealth and culture.
Originally built for Tennessee’s 1897 Centennial
Exposition, this replica of the Parthenon in Athens,
Greece serves as a monument to what is considered
the pinnacle of classical architecture. Just like its
predecessor in Greece, the Parthenon in Nashville
faces east. One of the many remarkable features
of The Parthenon are the 24-foot-tall bronze double
doors at each end of The Parthenon, the largest set
of matching bronze doors in the world. They weigh
seven and a half tons, measure 1’ thick, 24’ high,
and 7’ wide, but almost anyone can open and shut
them with minimal effort.
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 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. Additional gallery
spaces provide a venue for a variety of temporary
shows and exhibits.
We will begin the tour with a Group photo, taken on
the steps of The Parthenon. After the photo is taken
you can take a tour of The Parthenon and The Art
Museum.
IT’S TIME to explore ancient Greece in Nashville!
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