Getty Villa
Established	1974, reopened 2006
Location	17985 Pacific Coast Highway, Pacific Palisades, California
Type	art museum
Director	Michael Brand
Website	http://www.getty.edu/

Main Courtyard of the Villa

The entrance to the Getty Villa sets the tone of entering an archaeological dig.

The Getty Villa in Pacific Palisades, California, USA, is one of two locations of the J. Paul Getty Museum. The Getty Villa is an educational center and museum dedicated to the study of the arts and cultures of ancient Greece, Rome and Etruria.

The Villa is frequently and erroneously said to be in the city of Malibu, but most of the site is actually in the City of Los Angeles in the community of Pacific Palisades. In fact, the Malibu city border begins a mile west of the Villa. The museum itself perpetuates this error, to the irritation of Palisades residents.^[1]

[edit] History

Oil tycoon J. Paul Getty originally opened a gallery adjacent to his home in Pacific Palisades. Finding that he quickly ran out of room, he decided to open a second museum on the property (his original home still sits at the back of the property). In 1974, Getty opened the Getty Villa as his second museum in a re-creation of the Villa of the Papyri at Herculaneum, incorporating additional details from several other ancient sites. In 1997 the museum's collection was moved to the Getty Center in nearby Brentwood and the Palisades museum, renamed the "Getty Villa", was closed for renovation.

Reopened on January 28, 2006, the Getty Villa once again holds Greek and Roman sculptures housed in the interim at the Getty Center. The Greek, Roman, and Etruscan antiquities are arranged by themes including Gods and Goddesses, Dionysos and the Theater and Stories of the Trojan War, housed within Roman-inspired architecture and surrounded by Roman-style gardens. The new architectural plan surrounding the Villa is designed to simulate an archaeological dig.

There has been controversy surrounding the Greek and Italian governments' claim that objects in the collection were looted and should be repatriated. In 2006 the Getty returned or promised to return four looted objects to Greece: a stele (grave marker), a marble relief, a gold funerary wreath, and a marble statue.^[2] In 2007, the Getty signed an agreement to return 40 looted items to Italy.^[3]

[edit] Admission

Admission to the Getty Villa is free but timed tickets must be obtained in advance via phone or the museum's website. There is a $15.00 charge for parking. The museum is open Wednesday to Monday, 10 am to 5 pm. It is closed Tuesday and on New Year's Day (January 1), July 4, Thanksgiving and Christmas (December 25).

[edit] GettyGuide

Detailed information about the J. Paul Getty Museum’s collection at the Getty Villa is provided on GettyGuide, a suite of interactive multimedia tools available at the Museum and on its website, Getty.edu. At the GettyGuide stations in the Museum, visitors can get information about exhibitions, play with an interactive timeline, watch videos on art-making techniques, and other activities. The GettyGuide audio player at the Museum features commentary from curators and conservators on over 300 works of art. Users of the online GettyGuide can browse the Museum’s collections and bookmark works of art to create a customized tour and printable map.^[4]

[edit] Photographs

Gallery within the Villa	Central courtyard	The inner peristyle	The outer peristyle, viewed from above
The Lansdowne Herakles, part of the museum's collection	Victorious Youth, part of the museum's collection	Getty kouros, part of the museum's collection

[edit] References

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Getty Villa

• J. Paul Getty Trust official website
• Photos from the Getty Villa
• flickr.com photos tagged with "Getty Villa"

Coordinates: 34°02′42″N 118°33′56″W / 34.04486200°N 118.56557700°W / 34.04486200; -118.56557700