Getty art centre survives LA wildfire
LOS ANGELES: Southern California’s Getty Center, one of the world’s wealthiest art institutions, said it had survived a wildfire tearing through here thanks to a disaster plan that has it ready for earthquakes as well.
Fires that have chased almost 200,000 Californians from their homes covered the Getty’s hillside location in smoke this week.
Perched above the busy 405 freeway, an artery of the state’s traffic system, the Getty is among the most visited United States museums, and it reopened on Friday after being closed for two days.
The Getty’s design, and a plan developed with insurers eager to keep the valuable collection safe, helped shield the artworks from damage, including Edouard Manet’s “Spring”, for which it paid more than US$65 million (RM260 million) in 2014.
More than 5,700 firefighters had battled six large wind-stoked fires and several smaller ones that erupted since Monday.
As grey clouds swept onto the campus earlier in the week, a high-tech air filtration system pushed air out of buildings, making it harder for smoke to seep inside, said Linda Somerville, assistant director of insurance and risk management for the J. Paul Getty Trust, which oversees the Getty Center that stores nearly US$12 billion in assets.
The museum has its own water tanks and had landscaped the complex to keep flames at bay.
“By putting these bells and whistles in, we are able to wet down our hillsides, close intake valves and keep smoke and debris out,” Somerville said. Reuters