Saturday, September 4, 2010

Nashville Parthenon

One of our favorite scenes in the first Percy Jackson and the Olympians book was the battle scene at the St. Louis Arch. We were really looking forward to seeing that one in the movie. As it happened, that scene was changed. In the movie, Percy instead battles the Hydra inside a replica of Parthenon located in Nashville, TN.


We had no idea this was in Nashville until we saw the movie. It was originally built in 1897 for Tennessee's Centennial Expo & is a full-scale replica of the original in Athens. So, we took a detour through Nashville on our way home from Atlanta to check it out.

Outside our hotel in Nashville, TN, April 2010:





The Parthenon:



Full-Scale replica of the original Parthenon Athena:
Direct casts of original Parthenon sculptures were all along the sides of the main room:


Hiding -- you know, in case the park staff turn into the hydra!



Poseidon and Athena, battling for the city of Athens:

Athena's shield:










Playing outside the Parthenon at Centennial Park:





1 comment:

Sandra Dodd said...

That's a cool museum. And they have (or used to have) displays of other unrelated things too, which is cool. Neil Patrick Harris just mentioned that Parthenon in a tiny interview in Entertainment Weekly.

I like to think of it as a full-sized model, because it's in better shape than the original, and because the construction methods were different. :-) The columns aren't carved, they're poured with pebble slurry (which was a cool idea). And I like to think they're reinforced with steel rebar. I hope they are. It's a really cool building!

Love your photos.