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Getty highlights

TIME : 2016/2/27 17:11:25

Jorge Silvetti, principal architect on the Getty Villa museum renovation, highlights some of his favorite spots:

1. This contemporary fountain near the cafe is the most dramatic you'll see. Water pours down travertine walls and into a black marble pool.

2. Destined to be one of the Villa's main gathering spots, the amphitheater is a perfect place to take a break or meet friends. It also serves as the site for classical music and theater productions.

3. One of the museum's masterpieces is the Victorious Youth, a large-scale bronze discovered in an Adriatic shipwreck. It's housed in a special gallery that's more humid than the rest of the museum to help preserve the metal.

4. At the entry pavilion, descend past five horizontal layers of building materials as if you're stepping into an archaeological site.

5. The Outer Peristyle's bronze busts sit in the same spots occupied by the first-century originals at Villa dei Papiri ― the Roman country home (destroyed in the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius) that inspired the museum's design.

6. Silvetti calls the inlaid marble in this chamber "the most beautiful floor in America."