The Parthenon will exhibit George Julian Zolnay's original maquette of the Centennial Park World War I monument in celebration of the one-hundredth anniversary of the first Armistice Day. A native of Hungary, George Julian Zolnay made a name for himself in Nashville with his work on the Parthenon pediment sculptures at the 1897 Tennessee Centennial Exposition. His 1922 Centennial Park bronze monument to World War I veterans, features a caped female figure administering to a wounded soldier. In 2017, the plaster model, or maquette, for this monument was transferred from the Cheekwood Museum of Art to the permanent collection of the Parthenon. After repair and conservation work, the maquette is ready for public exhibit beginning Veteran’s Day November 11, 2018. For Veterans Day weekend, the Parthenon will honor all military, both active and retired, with free admission to the museum.

Take one of these architecture tours led by our knowledgeable docents to learn about the architectural history of the ancient Parthenon in Athens. Tours are free for Conservancy members and included with the price of admission for non-Conservancy members. No advance reservations are required.

Upcoming Tour Dates and Times: Saturday tours are at 10:00 am, and Sunday tours are at 2:00 pm.

• November 04
• November 24 and 25
• November 17 and 18
• November 10 and 11

Opening Saturday, September 22, is the group exhibition, Deconstructing Cowan in which a local contemporary artist reinterprets a painting from the Parthenon’s James M. Cowan Collection of American Art. Artists re-contextualized individual works from the Cowan Collection – striving to “make it new.” Much like the Impressionists represented in the original collection, the Deconstructing artists created visual interpretations of their current moment. But unlike much of the collection, they also comment on contemporary concerns, including race relations, environmental sustainability, bodily autonomy, and immigration.

Deconstructing Cowan artists include:

• Ashley Doggett, painting (Venus and Cupid, c.1765 by Benjamin West)
• Marlos E’van, video (The May Party by Jerome Myers)
• Morgan Higby-Flowers, video (The Wreck, 1852 by Frederic Edwin Church)
• Kem Hinton, sculpture (Still Life by Emil Carlsen)
• Courtney Adair Johnson, assemblage (Greensward, Durham, 1866 by George Inness
• Kit Kite, photography (The New Dress, 1874 by Edwin Blashfield)
• Joseph Patrick, photography (Rose of Shiraz, c.1919 by Hovsep Pushman)