101 Places to See Before You're 12 - A Replica

A Replica

On our way to visit family last week, we stopped in Nashville to visit the Parthenon!

Unbelievably I did not realize there was a full-scale replica of the Parthenon in Nashville all these years.  I found out about it when we took the boys to see Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief last year.  (Great kids movie, by the way).  The boys love the Rick Riordan books so we knew we had to make time to visit the Parthenon on one of our trips through Nashville.

Here are the kids fighting the Hydra in the Parthenon.

See the tall white Athena statue in the back?  You'll see the real one looks a lot different.

They apparently made a different Athena statue for the movie because the original doesn't resemble the actress (below) who plays Athena.

The Parthenon was built in 1897 as part of the Tennessee Centennial Exposition.  It has undergone several renovations over the years.  The Athena statue was added to the Parthenon in 1990.  The statue and building are exact reproductions of those in Athens, Greece.

The interior doors

Happy boys

The Athena statue is covered in gold and is really, really tall. See my 3 boys at the base?

This shield she holds is massive and beautifully carved.

The Parthenon and the museum inside were really fun to see!

Outside the Parthenon in Centennial Park is a nice pond.  It was a gorgeous spring day.

I really enjoyed the blooming bushes and trees!

From the Book:

#77 - A Replica

There's nothing like the real thing, they say.  But whoever they are, they haven't seen a replica - a thing that exists simply to be like the real thing.  The Eiffel Tower, the David, even planet Earth - have all been re-created for your viewing convenience.  So, in case you never quite make it to Paris, Florence, or outer space to see these famous sites, you can still see something that is almost just like the real thing!