Getty’s saving graces

Venice is drowning. Bombay’s historic core of Victorian buildings is being overwhelmed by modern culture. War-torn Iraq is suffering from looting and the destruction of its archeological heritage. Such are the challenges facing the world’s conservators. And such is the troubled territory of “Conservation Matters,” a free lecture series at the Getty Center in Brentwood. In the newest edition, sponsored by the Getty Conservation Institute, an international lineup of speakers will focus on pressing issues at endangered sites and propose solutions to some of the problems.

The goal of the series is to promote interest in conservation and provide a forum for scholarship, says GCI assistant director Kristin Kelly: “We look for authoritative speakers who can talk about subjects of interest to professionals and to an educated audience with no special knowledge of conservation.” Another requirement, she says, is that the speakers come with “really terrific images.”

Anna Somers Cox, founding editor of the Art Newspaper and chairwoman of the Venice in Peril Fund, will inaugurate the latest series Jan. 20 with “Venice Can Be Saved From the Waves If ...,”about how the city might be protected from tides. Archeologist turned journalist Joanne Farchakh Bajjaly will comment on recent damage to Iraq’s cultural history in her Feb. 8 lecture, “Mesopotamia Endangered -- Witnessing the Loss of History.”

Offering a change of pace in his March 17 lecture, Getty decorative arts conservator Brian Considine will track museum period rooms’ evolution from nostalgic mementos to subjects of serious scholarship in “Paneled Rooms: Museum Objects or ‘Life-Style Environments.’ ” The scene will shift to India on April 21, when urban designer Rahul Mahrotra will present “Bazaars in Victorian Arcades: Conserving Bombay’s Historic Fort Area.” English historian Sir Neil Cossins will wind up the series May 19 with “Building Communities Through Heritage,” making the case that preserving a community’s heritage can boost its economic viability.

Reservations can be made by phone at (310) 440-7300 or online at www.getty.edu.