RonnieAdventures: RonnieAdventure #0515 - The Parthenon and Lane Motor Museum, Nashville, Tennessee

View Southwest of The Parthenon

The Parthenon in Nashville (Tennessee) is the world's only full-scale replica of the original Parthenon in Athens, Greece. It was built in 1897 for the Tennessee Centennial Exposition. Over the years, structural building parts that had originally been made from plaster deteriorated due to weathering and were replaced with concrete replicas. In 2002 the interior and exterior parts of the building were given a completed restoration and cleaning.

In 1990 a recreation of the Athena Parthenos statue was added in the Naos (east room of the main hall) and decorated as close to the presumed original as possible. It was described that Athena "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, and stands 42 feet high, gilt with more than 8 pounds of gold leaf, an equally colossal serpent rears its head between her and her shield."

The pediment maquettes that were used during construction are located in the Treasury Room (west room of the main hall), along with plaster cast that were made from the original sculptures dating back to 438 BC.

Although there are large 24-foot-tall bronze doors that weigh 7.5 tons each on both ends of The Parthenon, visitors enter through a tunnel on the east side of the building. The tunnel is located just below the front steps and leads visitors into an art gallery containing 63 original paintings and then up a flight of stairs to the main level.

East Side of Parthenon

East Pediment

Picture by Kolohe

Gryphons are located on the four corners of the roof to protect the Parthenon.

Treasury Room

East Pediment Maquette and Figure Casts (Picture by Kolohe)

West Pediment Maquette and Figure Casts

Picture by Kolohe

24-Foot-Tall 7.5-Ton Bronze Door (Picture by Kolohe)

West Side of Parthenon

West Pediment (Picture by Kolohe)

Lane Motor Museum

1958 BMW Isetta 300, 161,360 Produced, Top speed: 53 MPH (Picture by Kolohe)

People interested in looking at classic Rolls-Royce, Duesenberg, Cadillac, or Lincoln automobiles would probably not want to stop by the Lane Motor Museum in Nashville. The Lane Motor Museum's Mission is "to collect, preserve document, and interpret an eclectic and technically interesting collection of cars and other transportation-related objects...Loosely stated, the collection represents interesting, rare unusual, and significant automobiles of the world." The museum owns over 500 vehicles, bicycles, motorcycles, airplanes and other forms of transportation.

2009 Electric Monopoly Car, Number Built: 1, Top Speed: 17 MPH

Picture by Kolohe

1959 Scootacar MK I, 750 Produced, Top Speed: 50 MPH (Picture by Kolohe)

1963 Trojan 200, Production: 7,000, Top Speed 55 MPH (Picture by Kolohe)

1957 Zundapp Janus 250, Production: Unknown, Top Speed 50 MPH (Picture by Kolohe)

1948 Berger Reaction, Produced: 1, Top Speed 35 MPH (Picture by Kolohe)

Picture by Kolohe

1922 A.B.C., Number Built: 1,500, Top speed: 60 MPH

How many car carriers does it take to carry a small car? In this case it required four carriers. Top to bottom manufacturers: Acoma, Subaru, Goliath, Tissier, Tatra

Starting in the 1920s, fabric-covered cars were manufactured by several different companies. These vehicles solved the problem of vehicle weight and body and paint cracking from flexing strains.