December 30, The Getty Center

In 1983 the J. Paul Getty Trust purchased about 750 acres in the foothills of the Santa Monica Mountains. The following year architect Richard Meier was chosen to design the Getty Center. He is famous for architectural Modernism and he wedded his signature style to more classical materials in order to express the Getty's roots in the past and belief in the future. The Getty Center opened to the public in Dec. 1997. We arrived there in our bus and parked in the parking garage, went up 1 level and boarded a tram. The tram takes you up the mountain, 3/4 mile at a top speed of 10mph to the center. The center is comprised of several levels and 11 buildings and numerous gardens. The gardens are modernistic in design and full of sculpture. The research institute has exhibitions, reading room and research library. One building is for the restaurant, cafe and snack bar on 3 different levels. We arrived on the arrival plaza.

The arrival plaza with a modernistic sculpture. The hill to the NW has a church on it and what looks like a convent or monastery.
There is downtown LA with smog.If it is clear you can even see the ocean from the other side of the complex.
The walkway leading down to the Central Garden.
Overlooking several levels below from one of the buildings.

At the bottom of the Central Garden, water cascades over a stepped stone wall into a reflecting pool with a maze of 400 azaleas. You can see some color developing on some of the plants.
The museum courtyard features a 120 foot linear fountain bordered on one side by a row of graceful Mexican cypress trees. The massive boulders are blue veined marble.

The current display in the buildings were Medieval Treasures from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Also displayed were paintings from Renaissance Rome by Taddeo and Federico Zuccaro. They also displayed tapestries, furniture etc from that period.

We had very little time and too much to see. One area of a building was given over to a hands on children's section. All in all a very interesting Center, but one that needs lots of time.