If what to do in Nashville is 'Greek' to you . .

by Ed Gregory and Jennifer Wendell
Middle Tennessee Chapter, STC

. . . it may be for good reason.

Nashville has been promoted for the last 100 or so years as the "Athens of the South." That's due in part to the number of educational institutions to be found in the area, a long-standing competition with other major cities in the south, and the fact that Nashville is formally sister city to the city of Athens, Greece.

You might start with a visit to Centennial Park, where you can stroll around near the heart of the city and visit a replica of the original Parthenon in Greece.

Commissioned for Tennessee's 1897 Centennial Exposition, Nashville's Parthenon houses an impressive Athena standing as silent docent for an art gallery that belies the city's country music image. (The 42-foot Athena Parthenos is reputed to be the tallest indoor sculpture in the Western world.)

Many visitors don't expect much in the way of arts when they arrive in Nashville, which is probably one reason we like to see them so pleasantly surprised when they find out what we have to offer.

Among the many places that might change your preconceptions are:

Frist Center for the Visual Arts—The Frist Center is housed in the old main U.S. Post Office in Nashville, a building created at a time when money was no object and buildings were objects of art. In this case, art deco. The Frist Center, created by the family that created Hospital Corporation of America, one of the city's best-known businesses, brings world-class touring exhibits to Nashville.

Belle Meade Plantation and Cheekwood Botanical Gardens and Art Museum—These antebellum mansions are open to the public and provide a glimpse of the grand style of Southern living.

Van Vechten Gallery—This gallery on the campus of Fisk University houses part of the collection of famous photographer Albert Steiglitz, including some of his photographs, paintings by his widow, Georgia O'Keeffe, and pieces by Cezanne, Picasso, Renoir, Rivera, and Toulouse-Latrec. Visitors to the gallery at this historically black university also get to see the works of some great African-American artists, including Aaron Douglas, Jacob Lawrence, Stephanie Pogue, and Henry O. Tanner.

-Written by Ed Gregory and Jennifer Wendell