primo gaming Braced with fire defenses, Getty art center faces LA flames

primo gaming

Smoke from the Palisades Fire rises over the Getty Museum in Los Angeles, California on January 11, 2025. Agence France-Presse

LOS ANGELES — After ripping through thousands of buildings, wildfires in Los Angeles were looming Saturday toward the celebrated Getty Center and its priceless collection.

Nestled in the mountains above Los Angeles, the famed art museum is within a new evacuation warning zone as the Palisades Fire roars east toward populated areas.

Central banks worldwide hiked rates after inflation soared in the wake of the Covid pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but many have started to cut them.

Also known as AG&P Industrial, the company is the construction and manufacturing arm of diversified firm AG&P International Holdings Pte. Ltd., which is based in Singapore.

Article continues after this advertisement

Dubbed a “beautiful fortress” and constructed of fire-resistant travertine stone, as well as cement and steel, the center has drawn museum experts from around the world to observe its safety system.

FEATURED STORIES GLOBALNATION A surreal finish to Donald Trump’s historic criminal trial GLOBALNATION Ukraine says questioning POWs it claims are North Koreans GLOBALNATION PH to open 4 foreign missions in N. America, Asia Pacific in 2025

READ: Paris Hilton among celebrities who lost homes to devastating LA wildfires

Its roofs are covered with crushed stone to prevent embers igniting, and even in the gardens, resilient plants were chosen.

Article continues after this advertisement

Inside, the galleries can be closed off with a vault-like double door that, museum officials say, is practically impenetrable.

vegas777Article continues after this advertisement

“Getty staff, the art collections and buildings remain safe from the Palisades Fire,” the museum said Friday, hours before the evacuation warning.

Article continues after this advertisement

“The threat is still happening,” Getty added in an X post.

READ: LA fires threaten new communities as biggest blaze shifts direction

Article continues after this advertisement

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 center’s fireproof structure, made up of 300,000 travertine blocks and 12,500 tons 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.

Getty shuts its doors

Built more than two decades ago by architect Richard Meier, at a cost of $1 billion, the center’s protection measures also include a million-gallon (3.8-million liter) 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 earlier this week “out of caution and to help alleviate traffic.”

When the 2019 fire threatened the center, it served as a base for firefighters battling the blaze.

Caused by a tree branch falling on power lines, that fire burned 745 acres (300 hectares) 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 center is fine,” said Lapin in 2019.

The Palisades Fire has ravaged more than 22,000 acres since erupting on Tuesday, and is just 11 percent contained as a series of fires burn through Los Angeles neighborhoods.

The fire threatened the separate Getty Villa, which also has special flame resistant protections, earlier in the week.

Your subscription could not be saved. Please try again. Your subscription has been successful.

Subscribe to our daily newsletter

SIGN ME UP

By providing an email address. I agree to the Terms of Use and acknowledge that I have read the Privacy Policy.

Trees and vegetation around the coastal villa were burnedprimo gaming, but the structure and collections — including Greek and Roman antiquities — were spared.

READ NEXT Special counsel who led Trump prosecutions leaves US Justice Dept Stay inside to avoid toxic LA wildfire smoke, residents warned EDITORS' PICK Fil-Ams grapple with devastating LA fires: ‘It’s like an apocalypse’ Jericho Rosales is proud of rumored GF Janine Gutierrez and her work ethics Poe pushes for animal welfare bill passage amid rising abuse cases Pope Francis sends prayers, condolences to victims of LA fires 9⁰C-level temperature seen for Baguio, upland Luzon in February More villages affected by floods in Bicol MOST READ Rep. Castro says INC rally a move to shield VP Sara Duterte Greenhills Shopping Center stays on US watch list 'Pepsi Paloma' script handed by emissary to Vic Sotto's 'sibling who's a senator' Cagayan de Oro mayor suspends work, classes due to INC rally Follow @FMangosingINQ on Twitter --> View comments