The Mughal Suite is located at the end of a private hall extending from the central courtyard and includes a bedroom, large dressing area, bathroom, seating area composed of marble screens on the rooftop above (the Jali Pavilion), and private garden. Appropriately, it is located next to the Mughal Garden,…

The dining room is Doris Duke’s (1912–93) interpretation of an Islamic-style tent. At certain times and in certain places, tents were a key component of Islamic palatial architecture, particularly when rulers and their administrators lived itinerant lifestyles based on seasonal migration and/or warfare. For example, the Mongols who conquered Iran…

The Damascus Room is a highlight of the Islamic art collection assembled by Doris Duke (1912–93) and is one of two Syrian interiors preserved at Shangri La. Its acquisition dates to 1952, when Duke placed an order for “1 Old Damascus Room made of old painted panels of wood” with…

The Syrian Room is one of Shangri La’s most cohesive spaces: a period room created for posterity, echoing those found in a number of other museums In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Doris Duke (1912–93) oversaw a major renovation at Shangri La following her acquisition of late Ottoman–period Syrian…