Getty Center to Close for Yearlong Modernization Ahead of 2028 Olympics
The Getty Center will shut its doors for about a year beginning in spring 2027, marking the first major modernization of the Los Angeles museum campus since it opened in 1997. The last public day is set for March 15, 2027, and the institution expects to reopen in spring 2028, in time for the Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games in Los Angeles.
The project, which the Getty described as a set of “modernization initiatives,” is aimed at improving the visitor experience, accessibility, energy resilience, and long-term care of the hilltop campus above Brentwood. That emphasis on resilience carries particular weight in Los Angeles County, where wildfires have repeatedly disrupted cultural life and forced institutions to close. The Getty Center has already weathered some of those pressures, and its elevated site includes systems designed to reduce wildfire risk.
Planned work will touch several of the campus’s most visible and heavily used areas. The galleries, Welcome Hall, and tram that carries visitors from the parking lot to the top of the hill will all be updated. The museum also plans to add a cafe to the Welcome Hall, reconfigure its retail shop there, and introduce new artist commissions across the campus. Less visible but equally practical upgrades will include improvements to Wi-Fi and cell service, which can be unreliable at the site’s elevation, as well as HVAC work that has already led to the temporary closure of some galleries.
During the closure, the Getty will shift much of its public programming to the Getty Villa in Malibu and to a rented space on Sepulveda Boulevard, across from the Center’s entrance. The Villa, which reopened in June 2025 after its own closure following the January wildfires, will also dedicate a gallery to paintings that are usually shown on long-term view at the Center.
Katherine E. Fleming, president and CEO of the J. Paul Getty Trust, said the institution sees the project as the start of “an exciting new chapter.” The timing is notable: by reopening in spring 2028, the Getty Center is positioning itself to meet a global audience arriving for the Olympics with a campus that is more accessible, more resilient, and more closely aligned with the demands of a changing city.
