Took a day off from our usual routine to head down the Coastal Highway to visit "The Getty Villa" in Pacific Palisades. The villa is one of two campuses that house "The J. Paul Getty Museum." The other, the main location, is "The Getty Center" in the Brentwood neighborhood. The villa is modeled after the Villa dei Papiri, a Roman country house in Herculancum buried by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in A.D. 79. Because most of the Villa dei Papiri remains unexcavated, many of the Getty Villa's architectural details are based on elements drawn from other ancient Roman homes in the towns of Pompei, Herculaneum, and Stabiae. (Brochure)
The above video describes the history, collections, and setting of the Getty Villa.
On approaching the villa one gets the sense of entering an archaeological dig, an intentional design theme.
The above photo looks back from where the previous ones were taken.
As the villa starts coming into sight the first glimpses are of the herb garden, the exterior wall of the outer peristyle and, to the left, the upper floor of the museum.
This close up again shows the museum's upper floor with a glimpse of the outer peristyle's first floor columns.
This view is of the museum's main entry opposite from the outdoor theater. See photo below.
Outdoor theater and museum from opposite side.
Approaching the museum.
The above and below photos show the portico's ceiling.
The museum entrance looking through to the open air atrium and beyond to the inner peristyle. The people in line on the right are waiting to see the 12 minute video presented here earlier.
The above photo show the portico of the inner peristyle. The following few photos give additional peristyle views.
This photo looks back across the peristyle, through the atrium, out the main entry to the outdoor theater.
Passageway from inner peristyle to outer peristyle.
The far end of the outer peristyle.
Looking back from Hermes perspective, he of the winged feet. (See next photo)
The above is of the ceiling of the outer peristyle, the below photo is a wall photo looking out to the herb garden alongside of the outer peristyle that was first glimpsed upon our earlier approach.
The herb garden shown in the above and next few photos.
The end of the herb garden.
From just past the herb garden we get a view of the outer peristyle structure and...
from the same point, looking in the opposite direction, the exit. However, this is not the end. Next up is the museum and selected photos from the collection.
The above and below photos show the layout of the first and second floors of the museum indicating collection viewing rooms.
The following photos represent just a small portion of the collection that is available to view.
In closing, the Getty Villa is a magnificent architectural model of a Roman country house. The collections it houses (from the Greeks, Etruscans, and Romans) represent one of J. Paul Getty's passions, collecting antiquity. For a sense of what a visit to the Getty Center would be like see the video below. For all Getty related information visit Getty.
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