HONOLULU -- The "richest girl in the world's" seldom-seen
seaside retreat
opened to the public late last year, the latest example of how Hawaii is
gradually becoming as well known for its art and culture as it is for its
surfboards
Surfboards
are in no way out of the picture, however, and the
late billionaire heiress Doris Duke's passion for them is evident in her
collection of 14 different models.
But Duke, who
inherited $1 billion at the age of 13 as the only
surviving daughter of tobacco tycoon James Buchanan Duke, was equally
interested in Islamic art. When she was 22, Duke went to India for her
honeymoon and was smitten by the Taj Mahal. She began purchasing
Islamic-style art before completing her honeymoon.
As the press-styled "richest girl in the world," she could afford her
hobbies, and the result at her home is a treasure-filled collection right
out of Arabian Nights -- everything from 12th century
mother-of-pearl
chests from Syria to centuries old Iranian prayer rugs.
Duke, who was
born in 1912 and died at the age of 80 in 1993,
was a woman who prized her privacy. She deliberately went about adding to
her hideaway home with the intention of opening it as a museum after her
death.
She and her
frequently traveling husband, James Cromwell, often
stayed for months on end at the Hawaii home. When completed in 1938 at a
cost of $1.4 million, the 4.9-acre ocean-front estate was the most expensive
residential property in Hawaii.
For years,
beachgoers near Diamond Head and surfers riding thewaves at breaks named for Duke's husband, Cromwell, could catch tantalizing
glimpses of a mysterious white mansion rising above the ocean. Local
residents gave it the name of Shangri La.
It was a
mysterious place for years in part because of its
barely visible entrance -- just two gates in a cul-de-sac on a
street
named Papu (Hawaiian for fort).
For years,
Shangri La was seldom seen by the public, even in
photographs. But today, its various ceramics, manuscripts, carpets and other
works make up one of the most extensive collections of Islamic art in the U.
S.
The home just
east of Diamond Head opened to the public and rave
reviews on Nov. 6, just weeks before what would have been Duke's 90th
birthday.
Visitors
found Shangri La housing 3,500 works of Islamic art
displayed within and built into the architecture. They find an eclectic mix
of Islamic, Modern and Spanish Mediterranean works.
The house is
also a testimonial to Duke's love of Hawaii.Diamond head is always in view and the ocean a continual presence during
mansion tours.
The
single-story, 14,000 square foot home housing her collection
has a pool, gardens, central courtyard and a guest house Duke called the
"Playhouse."
The art
collection spans the 8th to 20th centuries. The
collection depicts life in villages, cities and royal courts such as
furnishings, antique tiles, commissioned mosaics, metalwork and ceramics.
The pieces reflect Duke's extensive travel to Europe, South and Central
Asia, the Middle East and North Africa.
Visitors find
masterpieces throughout the museum.
One of the
most significant objects is a prayer niche called the
mihrab which visitors access as they step through a Moroccan doorway. There,
museum-goers are only inches from a 13th-century religious structure from a
tomb used to orient worshipers toward Mecca. The object here is aligned with
its own Mecca -- Duke's beloved Diamond Head.
A few steps
from the mihrab, the dining room opens to the ocean
under a massive Baccarat chandelier that was made for export to India.
Visitor highlights also include a 75-foot pool where there's a scaled-down
version of the Chihul Sutun, a 17th century royal pavilion from Esfahan,
Iran.
A late stop
on the tour is the Turkish Room, which comes from anold house in Damascus. This room where Duke and her guests retired after
dinner features a variety of handsome ceramic and glass objects from the
Ottoman Empire.
Guides point
out the room is a testimonial to Duke's tenacity.She painstakingly cleaned every piece here by hand, testing surfaces with
Q-tips and cleaning them with alcohol and mineral oils.
The
two-hour-and-a-half tour comes to a halt at Mughal Garden,an area where monkeys and parrots screeched in cages that today reflects thesounds of gurgling water along a brick waterway bordered by cypress andcitrus trees -- reminiscent of the prevailing peace of James
Hilton's Lost
Horizon, or of Shangri La itself.
Another
cultural attraction, the Hawaii State Art Museum, opened
last year to display a 5,000-piece collection by local artists. It
represents 35 years of collecting Hawaiian art and more than 300 artists.
Celebrations
of art and culture in Honolulu include world
premieres from China, India, Australia and other Asian and Pacific nations
at the Hawaii International Film Festival. It is held each November.
The Honolulu
Academy of Art that opened in 1927 is the area's
venerable art institute. It is Hawaii's only general art museum. The
34,000-piece collection internationally recognized for its quality and
diversity is almost equally divided between Western and Asian art. The
western collections encompass ancient to contemporary times with holdings
ranging from Greek, Roman and Egyptian works as early as the third
millennium B. C. to modern American and European arts.
The Asian collection, one of the museum's principal strengths, is generally
considered to be among the most important assemblages of its kind in
American museums.
Honolulu also boasts one of the most interesting local history and culture
archives, the Bishop Museum. Located at 1523 Bernice Street in downtown. It
was founded in 1889 by a member of Hawaii's royalty, Bernice Pauahi Bishop.
The museum's primary focus is on the islands of the Pacific Basin, but there
is also an astronomy exhibit with many images from the Keck Observatory on
the Big Island. The museum's European classic architecture is itself a workof art.
The main exhibit area, the Hawaiian Hall, is a Victorian-style designmarvel. Its location adjacent to the Hawaiian Court makes it an ideal placeto rest and contemplate in a beautiful, serene garden setting.
Also downtown, the Mission Houses Museum allows visitors to step back in
time to the early 19th century, when Honolulu was a busy, whaling port full
of missionaries trying to convert the native Hawaiians to Christianity.
There are three remaining houses dating from 1822 to 1863. They are open, as
are most Honolulu monuments and museums, Tuesdays through Saturdays from
8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Reservations are required for tours of Shangri La, which begin at the
Honolulu Academy of Arts, 900 South Beretania Street. Call 866-385-3849, or
visit www.honoluluacademy.org, or more information is available at
www.ddcf.org. Tickets cost $25 and are nonrefundable. Children under 12
are
not allowed on the tour
Two-and-a-half-hour tours are limited to a dozen people. They
are offered six times a day, Wednesday through Saturdays, from 8:30 a.m. to
1:30 p.m.
Visitors are
requested to reserve as early as possible because
only 72 people a day can take the tour. The estate is not air conditioned so
visitors might want to consider the cooler early morning times.
Admission to
the Hawaii State Art Museum is free. The facility
is open from Tuesday to Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. More information can be
found by calling 808-586-0900, or www.state.hi.us/sfca.
For more
information on the Honolulu Academy of Art, call
808-532-8700, or visit www.honoluluacademy.org.
