Thursday, July 07, 2005

Athena Nashville

The Athena Nashville sits within the Nashville Parthenon in Nashville, Tennessee. This full size replica of the Athena Parthenon and the Parthenon itself was built for the 1897 as part of a Centennial celebration. Originally the structure was built using temporary materials and these materials were replaced by concrete and cement in 1920. It seems that Nashville was considered the Athens of the west during the 19th century. What happened? The pediment reliefs were created using molds from the originals in London.
It is pretty cool to see how the original was interpreted in this version. Our modern banks and government buildings often mimick the classical style to construct some sort of continuity.
The original Parthenon had painted columns, and was in fact fully decorated with paint. It seems that even the figures themselves on the pediment were painted in realistic flesh colours.
http://www.northernfern.com/parthenon/

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