Shangri La - Honolulu, Hawaii - House with a Unique Perspective on Islamic Art

During the late 1930s, American heiress and philanthropist Doris Duke built her home on five acres of Honolulu property overlooking Diamond Head and the Pacific Ocean. She named it "Shangri La,'' in reference to the idyllic fictional hideaway described by James Hilton in his novel "Lost Horizon.''

Upon her death in 1993, the Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art (DDFIA) was created to manage the Shangri La estate and promote the study and understanding of Middle Eastern art and culture. The idea was to make the property available to scholars, students and others who are interested in Islamic art, while making the grounds open to the public.

Today, Shangri La occupies five acres of waterfront property. The main house has a total floor area of about 14,000 square feet, built around a roofless central patio. The interior includes art, furniture and architectural elements from a number of countries, notably Iran, Morocco, Turkey, Spain, Syria, Egypt and India. Painted ceilings, doors, marble screens, tile panels, ceramics, textiles, carpets and paintings are just some of the furnishings.

The Shangri La Playhouse is a scale model of a 17th-century royal pavilion constructed in Iran. It contains a central recreational room and two guest rooms. Between it and the main building is a 75-foot swimming pool, water terraces, and steps of made of white marble. An Indian Mughal garden is also part of the landscape.

The extensive Collections of the Shangri La, over 3,500 objects from the Islamic world are housed here, including the original pieces that Duke first began collecting during her honeymoon travels through the Middle East and India in 1935. The Collections represent nearly six decades of sustained custodial efforts.

Since 2002, Shangri La has been open to small groups for guided tours and educational programs. The Foundation works together with the Honolulu Academy of Arts, which serves as an orientation center for supervised visits to the Shangri La estate.

This partnership has allowed the Academy to in turn add programs and educational activities focusing on Islamic and Hawaiian art and culture as part of its curriculum. Exhibitions, classes, workshops, lectures, film series and performances have all been tied to the Shangri La.

Many of the objects on display at the house can now be viewed in a virtual tour online at the Shangri La's web site shangrilahawaii.org. The Academy also sells a catalogue of the Collections in its Gift Shop.

There is nothing quite like witnessing the originals in person, however. The public rooms of the estate's main house have been preserved and refurbished to appear just as were during Duke's life. Restoration of other parts of the property is ongoing, and as sections are completed, they too are opened to public viewing.

Admission is by guided tour only. Advance reservations are required via phone or e-mail. Non-refundable tickets, which cost $25 per person, will be sent via U.S. mail and may need to be reserved several months ahead of arrival. At the time of this writing, group reservations and school tours were not available.

All tours begin at the Honolulu Academy of Arts, located at 900 South Beretania Street, between Victoria Street and Ward Avenue. A minivan is used to take groups of no more than twelve persons at a time to the Shangri La property. The ride takes only 15 minutes one-way and the tour lasts approximately 90 minutes.