The Getty Center found in Los Angeles, California is an educational and art facility dedicated for cultural organizations and was established by J. Paul Getty. This Los Angeles Art epicenter which cost $1.3 billion to build was inaugurated in 1997 is popular not only because of the art masterpieces that it houses, but also because of its beautiful gardens, impressive architecture and picturesque views of Los Angeles.

The Getty Center in Brentwood, Los Angeles is one of the two branches of J. Paul Getty Museum which and focuses on pre-20th century arts from Europe and photography from the 19th and 20th century hailing from the United States and Europe as well.

The much acclaimed design of the Getty Center is the brainchild of the architect Richard Meier who was selected to create the blueprint of the building in 1984. He utilized two natural-occurring slopes which are angled at 22.5 degrees. He made two grids along these ridges to separate the campus space from the administrative buildings. Museum-goers are usually welcomed at a tram stop found in the arrival plaza which is located in the middle of the museum entryway and the administrative offices. A series of large steps guide visitors to the primary doors of the central rotunda or the rotunda building. A number of fountains is scattered in different parts of the Getty Center to provide ambient noise. Most of Meier?s original design remains intact up until today except for the addition of some fences around these fountains to prevent people from playing in the pool.

The Getty Center draws in 1.3 million guests per year and ranks as one United States? most frequented museums. One of the most famous work of art housed here in Vincent Van Gogh?s Irises which the museum acquired in 1990. Aside from these pre-20th century European art pieces, the Getty Center has an extensive photograph collection composed of 475 albums holding approximately 40,000 mounted prints, 1,500 daguerreotypes, 35,000 individual photos and 30,000 stereographs.

Aside from these art pieces, another bragging right of the Getty Center is its spectacular 12,400-square meter Central Garden created by Robert Irwin. It took Irwin four years to complete the landscape design of the garden beginning in 1992 and was finished five years later in 1997. According to him, Getty Center?s Central Garden is actually a sculpture rendered as a garden. Water elements were exhaustively used in the garden?s design, threading the lush greenery like a blue ribbon. The garden features over 500 species of plants.