J. Paul Getty Museum

Two very different buildings share the J. Paul Getty Museum's collection. The Getty Center crowns a hilltop in Brentwood, a campus of travertine and white metal pavilions designed by Richard Meier that opened in 1997, with sweeping views across Los Angeles and Robert Irwin's Central Garden below. The Getty Villa, near the coast in Pacific Palisades, recreates an ancient Roman country house modelled on the Villa dei Papiri at Herculaneum.

The Center holds European paintings, drawings, sculpture, illuminated manuscripts and decorative arts, along with an important photography collection. Van Gogh's Irises is among the best-known works. The Villa is devoted to Greek, Roman and Etruscan antiquities, displayed among courtyards, fountains and gardens.

Founded by the oil magnate J. Paul Getty, the museum draws more than two million visitors a year. The gardens and architecture repay time as much as the galleries, and either site can easily fill half a day.