Last year when I was in Los Angeles I visited the famous Getty Villa. I have heart about it before but I didn’t know where it is and what kind of museum it could be. Now I know and I am happy I happened to be there.
The Getty Villa Museum is located at the Pacific Coast Highway at Pacific Palisades, which is north-west to Los Angeles city. It is a museum with more than 40.000 Etruscan, Greek and Roman antiquities, dated from 6.500 BC to 400 AD. Of which many came on dubious ways. They have half a million visitors during the year.
Getty was an oil tycoon who had a villa in this place. He liked to collect ancient art and soon his house was ready to be a museum. He opened it to the public in 1954. But as he continued to collect wherever he could get something he soon had not enough space and built another museum, a little further down to his villa, but still on his ground.
The villa – as a lover of ancient European cultures – he wanted in the very same way as an ancient Greek or Roman villa. And he decided to built his new museum like the famous Villa dei Papiri of Herculaneum.
The Villa of the Papyri is an old Roman villa in Herculaneum which in the eruption of the Vesuvius in 79 AD was completely covered by lava and ashes, up to 30 meters high.
During excavations, they discovered the building and called Villa dei Papiri because they found a library with more than 1.800 papyri rolls. It is thought that the villa might be owned by Lucius Calpurnius Piso Caesoninus, Caesar’s father-in-law. Most of the art discovered you can see today in the National Museum of Naples. And some in Los Angeles.
Getty built his museum on the old plans of the original villa in Herculaneum.
The original villa was first discovered in 1750 when a Swiss architect and engineer was in charge for the first excavations in this area under the patronage of Charles III of Naples. Getty’s villa was opened more than 200 years later, in 1974. His owner never saw the final result. His heritage was more than 600 million Dollar, going in the Getty Trust and used for renovation, adding and more.
Tickets must be bought on Internet or on the phone as far as I know. It’s a parking ticket, the entrance is free. I remember we came from Santa Barbara and the entrance was a little tricky as we had to drive first direction Los Angeles and then turn back to get the entrance.
They have a huge parking ground.
The entrance is not really that amazing, much too much concrete for my taste, too modern. That’s why I was so surprised when I actually came into the museum’s area. So different.
To visit the villa please calculate hours. We thought to have an hour visit, after 4 hours we were still wandering around. The offer a beautiful video in the excavations of the original villa in Italy, a must see!
The museum is arranged by themes, which makes it easier to see all. Don’t forget to always look at the ceilings, they are sooo beautifully painted. The light and the colors are amazing!
Nearly always you pass through a garden with water plays, fountains, ancient statues and a lot of green. As I was there in summer the bigger ponds had no water but were shimmering in a light blue paint.
There is a little shop for souvenirs. I got a pair of blue glasses here, couldn’t resist, too beautiful.
Following there are some more photos. I took so many photos that it has been more than difficult to select just the bests. I enjoyed jumping back in time and even return on ‘my’ continent. It felt all so home. I am from the Naples area in Italy and I know also Herculaneum. As a tourist guide of course I knew all these places, about the history there. I didn’t feel at all that the hours were running and running.
Be sure that between the different rooms and sections you always stay a while outside in the sun on a bench in one of the mane patios they have. You need that to let sink all the beauty you saw and get ready for more.
I loved the wall paintings in the main courtyard. They look so amazingly real, you nearly can touch the columns’ roundness… even though they are painted.
Getty Villa, Los Angeles, California/USA:
For further information:
The Getty Villa
The lost library of Herculaneum
