ATHENA PARTHENOS (REPLICA)

The Parthenon in Centennial Park, in Nashville, Tennessee, is a full-scale replica of the original Parthenon in Athens. Alan LeQuire, a Nashville native, was awarded the commission to produce the Parthenon’s cult statue. His work was modeled on descriptions given of the original. The modern version took eight years to complete, and was unveiled to the public on May 20, 1990. The Nashville Athena Parthenos is made of a composite of gypsum cement and ground fiberglass. In 2002, Parthenon volunteers gilded Nashville’s Athena resulting in making the modern statue appear more like the original. The 23.75-karat gold leaf on Nashville’s Athena Parthenos weighs a total of 8.5 pounds and is one-third the thickness of tissue paper. The Athena Parthenos statue stands in the east room of the main hall and is the focus of the Parthenon just as it was in ancient Greece. She is cuirassed and helmeted, carries a shield on her left arm and a small (6-foot high) statue of Nike (Victory) in her right palm. An equally colossal serpent rears its head between her and her shield. Nashville’s Athena Parthenos stands 41 feet 10 inches tall, making her the largest piece of indoor sculpture in the Western World.