The passing of Denis Kurutz, 61; the Landscape Architect for both the far less known, MUCH smaller, classic Getty Museum, (now called the Getty Villa,  located in south Malibu) and predecessor to the New Contemporary Huge New Getty Museum (located in Brentwood), encourages an opportunity to discuss the earlier and less well known Roman influenced Museum. 

The Original, and now "Getty Villa" was a replica of an Herculaneum estate destroyed by the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in AD 79. 

In order to re-create the destroyed gardens of the Roman Villa of the Papyri, built more than two millenniums ago, Kurutz traveled to Italy to search for likely plant life, fountain designs and tiles. He also delved into ancient history and art.

For a visual concept of Italian gardens of that period, he examined a fresco from the garden room of the villa of Livia Drusilla, the wife of Emperor Augustus, housed in the National Museum of Rome. The fresco helped show him what to plant -- colorful flowers such as daffodils, iris, flax, anemones, sweet peas, stocks and calendulas, and boxwood shrubs. Because Malibu has more fog than the old Herculaneum, he said, he had to make certain adaptations, such as planting Japanese rather than European boxwood.

Kurutz, in recreating the villa courtyard and gardens, on writings of historian Pliny the Younger, an eyewitness to the volcanic eruption from across the Bay of Naples, and of the Greek physician and pharmacologist Pedanius Dioscorides. 

Pliny, Kurutz found, had kept a detailed record of his work with his gardener in maintaining his own garden of the period, and Dioscorides had completed a massive treatise on about 600 plants prevalent around the Mediterranean shortly before the volcano erupted.

Until the Getty Villa closed, Kurutz made an annual tour of its grounds to monitor the historic integrity of the vegetation.

When one misinformed gardener introduced Japanese azaleas to add color, for example, Kurutz had them quickly removed.

Now known as Getty Villa, the former Malibu Getty complex has been closed for renovation for the past few years. Kurutz was working on restoration of the grounds.

I am "immeasurably impressed" with the New Getty Museum, but I "am in awe of, and in love" with the Getty Herculaneum Villa. 
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Denis Kurutz, 61; 
Was Landscape Architect for Original Getty Museum
Los Angeles Times 
By Myrna Oliver
Times Staff Writer
February 17, 2003

Denis Kurutz, 61; Was Landscape Architect for Original Getty Museum 
http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-
kurutz17feb17,1,1546587.story?coll=la%2Dnews%2Dobituaries