Frommer's Review
Opened in 2001, the Frist Center for the Visual Arts brings world-class art exhibits to the historic downtown post office building. The nonprofit center does not maintain a permanent collection but rather presents exhibitions from around the globe. Among the works slated to be shown in 2008 include paintings by Claude Monet, Henri Matisse, and Salvador Dali; stained-glass lamps by Louis Comfort Tiffany; and bronze sculptures by Auguste Rodin. Upstairs, the ArtQuest Gallery encourages visitors to explore a range of art experiences through more than 30 interactive multimedia stations. Creative kids and likeminded adults could spend hours here.
The Frist is free to visitors 18 and under, making it an excellent value. Seniors get half-price admission the third Monday of each month, when musical activities such as sing-alongs are held.
Planes, Trains & Automobiles -- Constructed during the Depression, Nashville's main post office is home to the Frist Center for the Visual Arts. Classical and Art Deco architectural styles are prominent within the marble and gray-pink granite building, which is on the National Register of Historic Places. Intricate grillwork celebrates icons of American progress: an airplane, a locomotive, a ship, and an automobile. Among other achievements represented in the icons: scientific research (microscope, test tube, and flask), harvesting (sheaf of wheat and sickle), industry (cogwheels), publishing (book press), sowing (hand plow), metalwork (hammer and anvil), the pursuit of knowledge (lamp of learning resting on books), and nautical endeavors (dolphin and propeller).
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