First Look: We Tour Doris Duke’s Stunning Shangri La Bedroom, Opening This Week

We toured the Black Point estate’s previously off-limits area before its official opening this Saturday.

Photo: David Croxford

In 2010, we wrote about 10 places you can't go in Hawai‘i. One of the coolest was Doris Duke’s bedroom at her Black Point estate, Shangri La. While you could book a tour of the rest of the estate through the Honolulu Museum of Art, the Mughal Suite, which also includes a dressing room, bathroom, seating area and private garden, was closed to the public because funds weren’t available to restore it. Until now.

The suite, which served as Duke’s personal quarters and the foundation around which the rest of the house was built, has been restored to the way it appeared in the late 1930s. You’ll find mother-of-pearl embellishments, precious jewels, carved marble screens and other Indian objects and design elements. Duke’s collection of glassware even goes as far back as the first century. Read more on Lesa Griffith’s monthly museum blog post, and check out our photos below.

The Mughal Suite opens to the public as part of the museum’s regular tour of Shangri La on Oct. 11. Learn more and book a tour here. There will also be free spotlight tours of just the Mughal Suite two Saturdays a month through December. Reservations must be made one week in advance here.