NASHVILLE, Tenn. - A new permanent exhibit exploring the Parthenon's history will open on Tuesday.
It houses artifacts from the 1897 Tennessee Centennial Exposition, which is when the Parthenon was first built out of plaster and wood as the Fine Arts Building. After the Exposition, which celebrated Tennessee's hundredth year as a state, the Parthenon was in danger of being torn down.
It was rebuilt out of concrete in the 1920's. The Parthenon as we know it re-opened in 1931.
Local lawyer, collector, historian, and ninth-generation Nashvillian David Ewing loaned his entire collection of Exposition and Parthenon memorabilia, amassed over the past twenty years, to the Parthenon for this exhibition.
The exhibition will also feature props from the film Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief, part of which was filmed in Centennial Park in 2009. In the movie, the main characters make a trip to Nashville to retrieve a pearl from inside Nashville's Parthenon.
The Parthenon is open from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. From June to August, it is also open on Sundays from 12:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. On the first Thursday of every month, it is open until 7 p.m.
Admission is $6 for adults, $4 for seniors 62 and over as well as children 4-17. Children under 4 are free.
To learn more about the Parthenon, please visit www.parthenon.org.
