The Parthenon in Nashville: A Visitor’s Guide

My son is a wealth of knowledge when it comes to Greek and Roman Mythology. While visiting Nashville on business, I explored The Parthenon at Centennial Park to learn more about the mythology and share that with him when I got back home.

While The Parthenon itself is an amazing work of art, the mosaic art exhibit was inspiring for both me and my daughter.

Learn more about The Parthenon and why you should include it in your Nashville itinerary.

Getting to The Parthenon in Nashville

Centennial Park and The Parthenon is about 3 miles west of downtown Nashville, and places like the Country Music Hall of Fame. My daughter and I took an Uber and were there in no time.

We started with a walk around the exterior of the large building. Since The Parthenon is located in Centennial Park, there are some great pathways throughout the park for walking, running, biking or strolling.

We found the entrance to the museum on the east end and started in the gift shop. We bought our customary souvenir patch, and did a penny press as a little gift to my mythology-loving son.

You can buy your tickets in the gift shop or the front desk of the museum. Plan on about 30 minutes inside the museum.

The Parthenon was built in 1897 for Tennessee’s Centennial Exposition. It was so popular, the city made it a permanent exhibit in the early 1900s.

Explore the Art Museum

We weren’t sure what to expect when we first walked in. We found ourselves in an art museum filled with some pretty creative and amazing mosaics. There was a pomegranate made of broken pieces of glass, along with a Day of the Dead skull mosaic made out of black and white computer keyboard keys (see photo below in this article).

As we branched out from the main art exhibit room, we found other halls with some paintings, along with a hall that inspired us to do our own at-home mosaics as a family activity.

The “100 Moments in Mosaic” exhibit has little squares with individual mosaics. My daughter, who loves art, took some photos of the ones she liked best. In the coming weeks, our family is going to visit a thrift store and buy ceramics and other glassware. We’ll then break them up and each kid will design their own mosaic. Just one example of how travel has inspired future artists. 😉

The Athena Statue

On the second floor of The Parthenon, you’ll find the grand hall with the 42-foot-tall Athena statue in it. As you can see from the photo above, it’s pretty large and definitely shiny. It’s coated with actual gold leafing – which was added in early 2000s.

Take a moment to examine the detail found on Athena, the shield she has at her side, as well as the pedestal she’s standing on. It would’ve been great to have had my son there so he could fill me in on everything, but that just means I’ll have to visit Nashville with him another time. Shucks.

A smaller room behind the Athena statue has various statues and pieces of statues from Greek mythology. If you’ve got your kids with you, just note that some of the statues are anatomically accurate… and visible.

The Details

Address: 2500 West End Avenue, Nashville, TN 37203

Cost: Adults are $6.50, while children (ages 4-17) and seniors (62+) are $4.50 each.

Hours: The Parthenon is closed on Mondays. Tuesday through Saturday, 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., and Sunday 12:30 p.m.–4:30 p.m.

Website: https://www.nashville.gov/Parks-and-Recreation/Parthenon.aspx

Phone: (615) 862-8431

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