WEBVTT - Why Is There a Parthenon in Nashville?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of I Heart Radio,

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<v Speaker 1>Hey brain Stuff Lauren Vogelbaum here. At first, no one

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<v Speaker 1>expected the building to last. The Tennessee Centennial Exposition, which

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<v Speaker 1>was something like a World's Fair or Walt Disney World's Epcot,

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<v Speaker 1>was held in Nashville. In it featured a full scale

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<v Speaker 1>replica of the famous Parthenon from Greece, the Plaster Parthenon.

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<v Speaker 1>This plaster Parthenon, which fit in with Nashville's ambition to

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<v Speaker 1>be the Athens of the South, housed an art exhibition

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<v Speaker 1>overy six months. One point eight million people visited the exposition,

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<v Speaker 1>but small when compared with the twenty seven million who

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<v Speaker 1>turned out for the Chicago World's Fair of eight three

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<v Speaker 1>but huge for Nashville, which at the time had a

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<v Speaker 1>population of a hundred thousand. As a ninety one newspaper

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<v Speaker 1>put it, the general effect of the cream colored staff structure,

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<v Speaker 1>with the brilliant colors and the freeze and gables so

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<v Speaker 1>overshadowed all the other buildings that when the exposition was over,

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<v Speaker 1>the people demanded its preservation, and it became a shrine

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<v Speaker 1>to the residents and visitors of Nashville. But this shrine

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<v Speaker 1>was not built for the long term. By nineteen eighteen,

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<v Speaker 1>the building had disintegrated so badly that it had to

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<v Speaker 1>be closed for safety reasons. However, thanks to popular demand,

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<v Speaker 1>the city decided to rebuild it as a permanent concrete

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<v Speaker 1>structure in ninety The Nashville Parthenon reopened to the public

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<v Speaker 1>in ninety one. As with the Greek Parthenon, the columns

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<v Speaker 1>on the Nashville structure are not completely straight, but have

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<v Speaker 1>a slight convex curvature called enthesis that corrects for an

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<v Speaker 1>optical illusion that makes straight lines of peercung cave at

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<v Speaker 1>a distance. The structure is also full of friezes and carvings,

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<v Speaker 1>and includes a replica of the famous Elgin marbles, now

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<v Speaker 1>known as the Parthenon Marbles. These marble structures were part

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<v Speaker 1>of the original Parthenon, but were removed by the British

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<v Speaker 1>Earl of Elgin and sold to the British Museum m

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<v Speaker 1>in eighteen sixteen. The entire transaction remains a point of

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<v Speaker 1>dispute between Brittain and Greece, and while the original Parthenon

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<v Speaker 1>is in a ruin, the Nashville version features the complete

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<v Speaker 1>structure of builders made educated guesses to fill in the

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<v Speaker 1>missing parts. At the time of its reopening in nineteen

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<v Speaker 1>thirty one, the only thing missing from this replica Parthenon

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<v Speaker 1>was a statue of the Greek goddess Athena. But after

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<v Speaker 1>twenty years of small contributions from the public via a

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<v Speaker 1>donation box at the site, plus some private funding, there

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<v Speaker 1>was enough money to commission a forty two foot that's

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<v Speaker 1>thirteen meter statue, the same size as the original. Tennessee's

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<v Speaker 1>sculptor Alan Lechoir took eight years to finish the mass

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<v Speaker 1>of work, which was unveiled in nineteen nine and features

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<v Speaker 1>a spear that was crafted with McDonald's flagpole as the

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<v Speaker 1>sturdy core. For twelve years, the statue stood in plain

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<v Speaker 1>white gypsum cement, but in two thousand two it was

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<v Speaker 1>gilded in real gold. Although some people have complained that

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<v Speaker 1>the guilding makes it look gaudy, it's actually more historically accurate.

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<v Speaker 1>The Nashville Parthenon still serves as the city's art museum,

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<v Speaker 1>and its permanent collection is home to sixty three paintings

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<v Speaker 1>of nineteenth and twenties century American artists donated by Nashville

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<v Speaker 1>businessman and collector James Cowen. Today's episode was written by

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<v Speaker 1>Katherine Whitbourne and produced by Lowell Berlante and Tyler Clang.

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<v Speaker 1>For more on this and lots of other topics, visit

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<v Speaker 1>how stuff works dot com. Brain Stuff is production of

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