top museums

Frist Art Museum

Housed in the beautiful Art Deco building that once served as the city’s post office, the Frist Art Museum is Nashville’s finest art institution. Often hosting historical and contemporary art exhibits simultaneously — as well as offering a cafe, monthly live music performances, a wonderful children’s center and regular architecture tours — the Frist goes to great lengths to offer something for everyone.

Tennessee State Museum

In its new digs near the Bicentennial Capitol Mall State Park, the Tennessee State Museum holds more than 150,000 artifacts from all over the state, and all of the exhibits are free to the public. The museum is dedicated to educational programming for kids too.

Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum

Because the museum’s collections and stories are so well presented, and because the exploration of country music runs so deep, even verging into blues and gospel at times, there’s plenty for all music fans to appreciate.

The Parthenon

Securing our reputation as the Athens of the South, Nashville is home to a full-scale replica of The Parthenon. There’s a museum inside with paintings from the 19th and 20th centuries, and just like the Parthenon in ancient Greece, this one holds a 42-foot statue of Athena.

Lane Motor Museum

In this unique museum, you’ll find myriad examples of the ever-evolving concept of practical transportation, from tiny bicycles and scooters to capacious people-carriers. Among the 150 or so vehicles on display, there are radical designs from engineers manifesting their visions in metal.