Smoke billows over the Getty Museum in Los Angeles, a survivor of LA’s firestorms as the surrounding landscape burns. — Photos: AFP
After ripping through thousands of buildings, wildfires in Los Angeles, California in the United States were looming last Saturday toward the celebrated Getty Centre and its priceless collection.
Nestled in the mountains above LA, the famed art museum is within a new evacuation warning zone as the Palisades Fire roars east toward populated areas.
Dubbed a “beautiful fortress” and constructed of fire-resistant travertine stone, as well as cement and steel, the centre has drawn museum experts from around the world to observe its safety system.
Its roofs are covered with crushed stone to prevent embers igniting, and even in the gardens, resilient plants were chosen.
Inside, the galleries can be closed off with a vault-like double door that, museum officials say, is practically impenetrable.
“Getty staff, the art collections and buildings remain safe from the Palisades Fire,” the museum said last Friday, hours before the evacuation warning.
“The threat is still happening,” Getty added in an X post.
The Getty Villa art museum remains unscathed, thanks to year-round fire-mitigation efforts by staff who clear brush from the surrounding area.
The museum’s unique collection comprises 125,000 artworks – including paintings by Rembrandt, Turner, Van Gogh and Monet – and 1.4 million documents. It also houses a research hub and a foundation.
Museum officials have previously said the collection is protected within the centre’s fireproof structure, made up of 300,000 travertine blocks and 12,500 tonnes of steel bars.
“The Getty was constructed to house valuable art and keep it very safe from fires, from earthquakes, from any type of damage,” said Lisa Lapin, communications vice president now and when Getty was threatened by fire in 2019.
“We are really built like a beautiful fortress, and everything inside is quite safe,” she told AFP at the time.
Flames from the Palisades fire line the Pacific Coast Highway near the Getty Villa turnoff.
Getty shuts its doors
Built more than two decades ago by architect Richard Meier, at a cost of US$1bil, the centre’s protection measures also include a 3.8 million-litre water tank feeding its irrigation system.
The building’s ventilation system has an internal recycling system, similar to those found in cars, preventing smoke from entering rooms from the outside.
Despite such extensive measures, Getty announced its closure last week “out of caution and to help alleviate traffic”.
A firetruck drives past the Getty Villa during a wildfire in the Pacific Palisades neighbourhood of west Los Angeles. Photo: Reuters
When the 2019 fire threatened the centre, it served as a base for firefighters battling the blaze.
Caused by a tree branch falling on power lines, that fire burned 300ha and destroyed 10 homes.
A fire two years prior also triggered safety measures at Getty, although it affected only the far side of an adjacent freeway.
“In both cases, we’ve been very confident that the centre is fine,” said Lapin in 2019.
The Palisades Fire has ravaged more than 9ha since erupting on Jan 6, and is just 11% contained as a series of fires burn through LA neighbourhoods.
The fire threatened the separate Getty Villa, which also has special flame resistant protections, last week.
Trees and vegetation around the coastal villa were burned, but the structure and collec- tions – including Greek and Roman antiquities – were spared. – AFP
