After a full day in Pomona, we drove to Santa Monica where we enjoyed a lovely dinner at Sol Agave, then the next morning we drove along the Pacific coastline to tour the Getty Villa.
At the top of my sightseeing list I put the Getty Villa, a recreated Roman villa overlooking from the first century, overlooking the ocean, with ancient art displayed throughout as the Romans did back in the day.
Especially exciting is the chance to walk throught a recreated Roman home, since my kids and I have twice portrayed a Roman family in our homeschool Becoming History presentations.
OUTER PERISTYLE
This outer peristyle is an accurate display of art, nearly replicating an actual scene based on architectural digs, since the villa upon which this is based was destroyed by Mount Vesuvius in AD 79.
Shaded porticos on each side were stunningly designed with painted frescoes, each one different, though similar and symmetrical to the other side.
The windows scattered about of various designs provided art as the sunlit pattern moved across the floor.
Walking down the opposite, sunny, side.
Watch my youtube video of the walk around the peristyle and listen to the water fountain…so serene.
At the end of the peristyle I entered the villa to see this magnificent room…
INNER PERISTYLE
…then I entered the inner peristyle, also with gardens, statuary, and water features.
ATRIUM
The atrium collects rain water from above into the pool below. The lions heads around the opening spew collected rain water into the pool.
Through different doors we entered rooms of artifacts from different ancient eras.
A FEW FAVORITES
My daughter would have enjoyed replicating these jewelry pieces from the Bronze Age.
There were tons of gorgeous variations of Athenian vases, which we replicated in our homeschool.
My son would have enjoyed recreating this shield from the Hellenistic Age.
HERB GARDEN
One of the doors led me to the herb garden…
One of my favorite features in the herb garden were these intricate patterns.
ROMAN SCULPTURES
There was also a lot of sculpture from the many ancient ages throughout, but these Roman sculptures are quite impressive in the intricacies of cutting stone…
Even the floor, seen above, is a recreation of embedded stones.
These delicate folds of fabric carved into stone, again, amazing.
ANCIENT GREEK THEATER
Near the entrance is an ancient Greek theater, whereas this acts as the stage for performances for Greek plays.
My kids and I would have loved to have performed our Greek play with a backdrop like this!
Hope we are there at the right time, on another visit from Virginia, to enjoy.
AERIAL VIEW
This villa recreation is based on the Villa dei Papiri, sketched below. In the bottom right is a photo of this villa, to compare layouts of the many spaces I’ve shown.
After surveying lots of amazing sculptures and frescoes, I found a doorway to a balcony, revealing this stunning view during sunset.
The Pacific Ocean can be glimpsed throught the trees across the way, while the lamps under the eaves of the Outer Peristyle begin to light in the fall of the evening.
After millionaire J Paul Getty amassed a collection of ancient art, he decided to display them in his mansion atop the Pacific Palisades.
As his collection continued to grow, of ancient art and beyond, this villa was recreated to display the ancient art, while the other artificats were taken to the Getty Center in Los Angeles. That will be our next tour.
EPILOGUE 2025
As I horrifically watched the fires destroy the Pacific Palisades, I was heartened with the survival of the Getty Villa.
Since the Getty Villa is well aware of earthquakes and fires propelled by the Santa Ana winds, they reported that they employ many safety measures from cutting back dead brush on the massive property throughout the year, including fireproof doors within the building to protect the collections.
