The Getty Villa property caught fire amid a devastating and fast-moving fire in the Pacific Palisades, the museum confirmed Tuesday.
Fire officials said trees and bushes were on fire and flames were approaching the structure, but the museum said so far the villa and its artwork were spared. Videos on social media platform X showed flames approaching Villa de Leon, a historic mansion near the museum’s driveway entrance on Pacific Coast Highway.
“Fortunately, the Getty Company had extensive efforts throughout the year to clear brush from surrounding areas as part of our fire mitigation efforts,” said Kathryn E., president and chief executive officer of the J. Paul Getty Trust.・Mr. Fleming said in a statement. “Some trees and plants on the property burned, but our staff and collections are safe.”
Mr. Fleming mentioned protective measures such as water stored on site, irrigation to keep the site wet, double wall construction, and an air handling system to protect the gallery and library archives from smoke.
Built in 1954 by oil magnate J. Paul Getty and opened as a museum in 1974, the 64-acre Getty Villa houses rare artifacts, including Roman, Greek, and Etruscan artifacts dating from 6,500 B.C. to 400 A.D. It houses over 44,000 items, including: The most valuable piece in the collection is the “Statue of the Triumphant Youth” (c. 300-100 BC), also known as the “Getty Bronze”. Other important works include the Roman “Lansdowne Hercules” from around 175 BC and the Cycladic “Male Harpists” from 2700-2300 BC.
The Getty Villa was designed and built as a full-scale replica of the Villa dei Papiri in Herculaneum, in what is now southern Italy. From 1974 to 1997, the villa housed the Getty Museum’s entire art collection. European paintings, drawings, sculptures, manuscripts, decorative arts, and some photographs were transferred to the Getty Center in Brentwood when it opened in 1997. The villa was then closed for renovations, but reopened in 2006 after a $275 million project transformed the site into an education center and museum dedicated to ancient art. .
The villa will remain closed until at least Monday.
The Getty home is not immune to fire hazards. In 2017 and again in 2019, the museum’s Brentwood campus was closed due to a fire near Highway 405. “The safest place for art is right here at the Getty,” Ron Hartwig, the Getty’s vice president of communications, said at the time, listing fire safety measures such as installing a 1 million-gallon water tank on site. said.
The biggest concern is the potential for damage to art from the smoke, Hartwig said. The threat was alleviated by sealing off the gallery, as Villa reportedly did.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
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