Established in 1954 by oil tycoon J. Paul Getty, the museum opened in 1974 as a replica of the Villa dei Papiri at Herculaneum (located in what is now southern Italy). The Getty Vila is home to more than 44,000 objects dedicated to ancient art, per the Los Angeles Times, including Roman, Greek, and Etruscan antiquities.

As the fire quickly spreads across the area, multiple people have left their cars and fled on foot. Traffic is gridlocked as people evacuate the neighborhood, and bulldozers have pushed 30 abandoned vehicles to clear a path for fire crews and evacuations on Palisades Drive and Sunset Boulevard .

Today, a brush fire started in Pacific Palisades fueled by extremely high winds. At the Getty Villa, some trees & vegetation on site have burned, but no structures are on fire, and staff and the collection remain safe. The Villa is closed to non-emergency staff and the public. pic.twitter.com/YN4RkOPRNS

The galleries and library archives on-site were sealed off from smoke and “remain safe” The post Getty Villa Museum Grounds Burned in Palisades Fire appeared first on TheWrap.

The Getty Villa caught fire on Tuesday as a blaze continued tearing through the Los Angeles neighborhood of Pacific Palisades. The museum and its staff were not harmed, according to a statement issued today by the Getty,

The Getty Villa Museum is "catching on fire" according to sources monitoring the spread of the devastating Pacific Palisades wildfire tearing through LA. Please check back regularly for updates on this developing story HERE.

By Tuesday, those winds had already fanned several blazes across the Los Angeles area, and by 3:30 p.m. local time, Pacific Palisades, a coastal neighborhood west of downtown Los Angeles, saw a 300 acre fire spread to more than 1,