The Parthenon (Nashville replica) and Athena statue

Nashville took its nickname, the Athens of the South, literally. For the Tennessee Centennial Exposition of 1897 the city built a copy of the Parthenon as its Fine Art Building, and the museum now calls it the world's only exact-size replica of the original temple in Athens.

It was never meant to last. Like the other exposition buildings it was plaster, wood and brick, yet it stayed as the centrepiece when the fair ended and Centennial Park was created around it in 1902. By 1915 its sculptures were being removed for safety, and in 1920 the city chose to rebuild it permanently. Local architect Russell Hart led the work, with architectural historian William Bell Dinsmoor as consultant, using reinforced concrete and a cast concrete aggregate. The exterior was complete in 1925 and the building reopened as a city museum on 20 May 1931.