Frist Art Museum to shut down Rome exhibit early due to downtown construction risks

More than a month before its scheduled end date, a Roman antiquities exhibition on loan at Frist Art Museum from the British Museum will be closing Saturday.

"Rome: City and Empire" has been featured at the downtown Nashville museum since Feb. 23 and was scheduled to remain at the Frist, the exhibit's exclusive North American Venue, until May 28.

More: Splendor, influence of ancient Rome on view at Frist Center

Due to the potential for damaging vibrations from blasting at nearby downtown construction, the British Museum made the decision to withdraw the 200-object exhibition.

In an effort to allow as many people as possible to see the artifacts before they leave town, Frist is offering free admission to the museum all day Friday.

Susan Edwards, director and CEO of Frist Art Museum, said the museum was announcing the early closing with "great regret."

“We were pleased that after several years of negotiations with the British Museum, we were able to arrange an exhibition of Roman antiquities for Nashville," Edwards said in a statement Monday. "The British Museum has one of the most extensive and finest collections of Roman art in the world, and we are saddened that the opportunity for people in Middle Tennessee to learn about the impact of the Roman Empire on world culture has been cut short.”

Edwards reported that Southwest Value Partners, the San Diego-based developers of the Nashville Yards site, had worked with the museum "to lower the impact of construction excavation and blasting significantly below" state limits in an effort to meet the British Museum's requirements on vibration tolerance.

Despite Frist's "extraordinary precautionary measures," Edwards said, "it was not possible to keep the exhibition here until the end of May."

In a statement, Amy Dillmann, project manager at the British Museum, said "the safety and security of the collection has to be our top priority," but looked forward to collaborating with Frist again in the future.

Admission to the museum will be free all day Friday, from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.



Reach Natalie Allison at nallison@tennessean.com. Follow her on Twitter at @natalie_allison.