Controversial Getty Villa To Re-Open After 12-Year Hiatus

The palatial urban masterpiece is finally back, but its art collection has been called into question by international critics.

1 minute read

January 27, 2006, 8:00 AM PST

By David Gest

"The Getty Villa is reopening this week after a 12-year, $275m renovation. Its new raison d'etre: to house and display the museum's extensive, and lately disputed, classical antiquities collection."

"Star doctors to the famous Malibu resident are not Beverly Hills plastic surgeons, but Boston-based architects Jorge Silvetti and Rodolfo Machado. Their task? To renovate and expand the original site of the museum built by the oil speculator, businessman and art collector J Paul Getty in the 1970s."

"...the $7.5bn (Â£4.2bn) Getty Trust, the world's richest art institution, [finds] itself at the centre of an international scandal after officials in Italy and Greece identified as many as 50 allegedly looted artworks in the Getty Museum's collection."

Read the full story: Under the California sun

Tuesday, January 24, 2006 in The Guardian Unlimited

Architecture History / Preservation California

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