Photos

Another from my Getty Villa series. A roof in the reconstructed villa, at the entrance. It's made to appear almost three-dimensional. Roman villas often had interesting architectural features, some of which mechanically rained down flowers onto visitors. Such a device was a favorite of Nero and other emperors, some of whom characteristically went overboard and nearly suffocated their guests in petals! Less affluent persons could have painted flowers instead. It is a bit odd, I suppose, having the blue sky awash in florals, but that's the story behind it.

This site was first opened in 1974 as the second museum; the first was at his home, on the same property, where he showed his vast art collection to visitors a few days a week. He then decided to build a reconstruction of the Villa of the Papyri, an immense estate near Herculaneum in Italy, which was destroyed during the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius. The villa was closed in 1997 for renovation and only re-opened in Jan. of 2006. It now houses an impressive collection of Greek, Etruscan and Roman antiquities, and also serves as an educational center and library for researchers around the world. There's some controversy surrounding it, however, as the Greek and Italian governments claim that many of the pieces were illegally looted and should be returned. The villa is goregous, however, and is definitely worth a visit, both to see the collection and the architecture!