Scorched Stumps and Spotless Art at the Reopening Getty Villa

New York Times

2 days ago

When visitors arrive at the Getty Villa's gate and granite pillar, they will almost immediately be confronted by a Los Angeles hillside that has been changed — and charred.
The eucalyptus trees have been intentionally pruned, their blackened stumps protruding from the ground at sharp, jagged angles. The devastation is hard to miss, said Camille Kirk, the Getty's sustainability director.
'We have to acknowledge the burn,' she said.
The museum that is as famous for its stunning landscape as for its art collection is reopening on Friday on grounds that have been licked by flames. Nearly six months after the Palisades fire carved its way through the neighborhood and came knocking at the museum's door, the best way to understand its significance may be to notice what is no longer there.
Roughly 1,400 trees burned beyond saving, many which once shaded the now barren hills that stretch out around the 65-acre property. The melted P.V.C. pipe that had made up the museum's irrigation system in those hillsides has been removed. Gone too is the rosemary, zapped by flare-ups, that once decorated the concrete ledges that encircle the museum.
That is how close the flames got. Less than a football field from a Greek and Roman treasure trove. But while the grounds were damaged — the hills on all sides were enveloped, the museum quite literally surrounded by fire — officials say the campus buildings and galleries were never ablaze.
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