The $1.3 billion center opened to the public on December 16, 1997,[2] and is well known for its architecture, gardens, and views overlooking Los Angeles.

The center branch of the museum features pre-20th-century European paintings, drawings, illuminated manuscripts, sculpture, and decorative arts; and photographs from the 1830s through present day from all over the world.

In the 1970s, Getty built a replica of an Italian villa on his home's land to better house his collection, which opened in 1974.

However, the collection outgrew the site, which has since been renamed the Getty Villa, and management sought a location more accessible to Los Angeles.

[citation needed] Current appraisal for the property fluctuates with the market, but in June 2013 the land and buildings were estimated at $3.853 billion (art not included).

[14] After the center opened, the villa closed for extensive renovations and reopened on January 28, 2006, to focus on the arts and cultures of ancient Greece, Rome, and Etruria.

[16] The Getty Trust experienced financial difficulties in 2008 and 2009 and cut 205 of 1,487 budgeted staff positions to reduce expenses.

[20] Meier has exploited the two naturally-occurring ridges (which diverge at a 22.5 degree angle) by overlaying two grids along these axes.

The main north–south axis starts with the helipad, then includes a narrow walkway between the auditorium and north buildings, continues past the elevator kiosk to the tram station, through the rotunda, past the walls and support columns of the exhibitions pavilion, and finally the ramp besides the west pavilion and the central garden.

The main axes of the museum grid that is offset by 22.5 degrees begins with the arrival plaza, carries through the edge of the stairs up to the main entrance, aligns with the columns supporting the rotunda as well as the center point of the rotunda, aligns with travertine benches in the courtyard between the pavilions, includes a narrow walkway between the west and south pavilions, a staircase down to the cactus garden and ends in the garden.

The initial design has remained intact; however benches and fences have been installed around the plaza fountains to discourage visitors from wading into the pools.

The complex is also encircled by access roads that lead to loading docks and staff parking garages on both the west and east sides of the buildings.

It also holds a grand staircase that starts a path toward the paintings located on the second floor of each art pavilion.

[27] The paintings include: Getty's extensive photograph collection is located on the lower level of the west pavilion.

Five public, two-story towers on the base are called the North, East, South, West and the Exhibitions Pavilions.

[35] The first-floor galleries in each pavilion house light-sensitive art, such as illuminated manuscripts, furniture, or photography.

The second floors are connected by a series of glass-enclosed bridges and open terraces, both of which offer views of the surrounding hillsides and central plaza.

The lower level (the highest of the floors in the base) includes a public cafeteria, the terrace cafe, and the photography galleries.

[36] Programs at the museum consist of exhibitions, family workshops, school visits, performances, talks, and tours.

[25][41] The Getty Research Institute (GRI) is "dedicated to furthering knowledge and advancing understanding of the visual arts".

[42] Among other holdings, GRI's research library contains over 900,000 volumes of books, periodicals, and auction catalogs; special collections; and two million photographs of art and architecture.

Meier also designed three other buildings located next to the north promontory and offset at a 22.5 degree angle from the main axis of the museum pavilions.

[23] They are linked to the museum both by landscaped terraces and by an enclosed glass walkway that leads from the main rotunda.

[50] The native flammable chaparral was removed and fire-resistant poverty weed was added to the slopes around the center.