Getty Villa Malibu

The Peristyle Garden at the Getty Museum is based on a Roman villa garden buried by the erruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79AD. The garden, which is enclosed by a peristyle with a red tiled roof and frescoed walls, has a central pool and is planted with oleander, myrtle, roses, violets and other Mediterranean plants. It is based on the Villa dei Papiri at Herculaneum. Similar gardens are found at Pompeii. They are Courtyard Style gardens. Paul Getty commissioned the design, in 1974, and the architect Norman Neuerburg based on a plan on the best archaeological information available: a plan by Karl Weber. The planting design, unfortunately, was not based on archaeological or even historical information. It was based on the theory that because Re-naissance translates as 're-birth', one can discover the character of Roman gardens by working backwards from Renaissance gardens. See blog comment on the 'restoration' of Roman gardens.