Yesterday, my wife and I took a tour of Shangri La.
I’m not making that up.
Shangri La: Museum of Islamic Art, Culture & Design is the former ocean-side Honolulu winter home of the late tobacco and power-company heiress Doris Duke (d. 1993), who was fascinated with the art of the Islamic world.
I had never been to it before.
It actually has, we were told, a larger collection of Islamic materials than any other museum in the United States excepting New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art — larger than the Freer Gallery in Washington DC and larger than LACMA (the Los Angeles County Museum of Art).
It’s really quite remarkable. A little known gem in a quite unexpected place. I recommend it for those with any interest in the subject, and for those who like beautiful homes set on the sea.
You catch the tour, which has very limited space, from the Honolulu Museum of Art, where we also spent some time looking at the Asian collections.
Posted from Honolulu, Hawaii
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