Concrete replica of the Parthenon in Nashville, built for an exhibition and now a museum

In Nashville, Tennessee, there stands an exact full-size replica of the Athenian Parthenon, built in the city park between 1897 and 1931.

An exact copy, with the proviso that no ancient calculations, technologies or materials were used in its construction. Naturally, the Nashville Parthenon is made not of flawless white Pentelic marble but of concrete. Nevertheless, the dimensions of the two monuments coincide.

The Parthenon was built for an exposition, at first of brick and wood. The structure proved so popular and so beloved among the townspeople that in time it was rebuilt on a more substantial footing. Today the Parthenon is one of the principal sights of the state of Tennessee, and within its walls is housed an art museum.

In my view, a splendid idea. At the very least it allows one to imagine how great the peerless original must have been, if even a wretched copy looks so majestic.

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Pope Leo XIV on the courage to do good, to forgive and to enter into dialogue

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Pope Leo XIV on the courage to do good, to forgive and to enter into dialogue

Orientalist Grigory Kozakov with relatives and children at a picnic near the village of Zhikharevka in 1903

Konstantin Ivanov's Cosmonautics Day poster, published in Moscow in 1977

Signs of violent death found on skulls from burials beside the royal tombs at Abydos