Art lovers no longer need trek to Shangri La to discover treasures of Islamic art and design. The Diamond Head estate built in 1937 by globe-trotting heiress Doris Duke contains a wide-ranging collection and is open to visitors on a limited basis through a partnership with the Honolulu Museum of Art.

The museum now boasts its own expanded exhibit space for these exotic works with the recent opening of its Islamic Art Gallery, funded with a portion of a $100,000 grant from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation.

Visitors to the new gallery can take in ornate wall tiles representing Syria, Iran and Turkey, paintings from Iran, decorative arts and furnishings from Tanzania and Morocco, jewelry from Indonesia, a ceramic paintbrush holder from China with Arabic on it, as well as contemporary artworks.

The new gallery was created from a smaller exhibit that served as an introduction to Islamic art before visitors boarded a shuttle bus for tours of Shangri La. Dividing walls and display cases came down, resulting in an open, brightly lit gallery showcasing 77 objects from Shangri La’s collection, including some that have never been on public display before.

The Honolulu Museum of Art celebrated the gallery’s completion in early November.

Konrad Ng, executive director of Shangri La, said he hopes the Islamic Art Gallery will demonstrate the global reach and diversity of Islamic culture, with the pieces being part of “a conversation with surrounding galleries” featuring the arts of Indonesia, China and Japan.

He is particularly excited about a section of the gallery dedicated to contemporary art from Shangri La’s Artists in Residence program.

Ng said he hopes the newer works will cause visitors to pause and reflect, “to really see each other as similar as opposed to very different.”

A new museum acquisition, Honolulu artist Reem Bassous’ abstract painting “Memory for Forgetfulness” (2015), takes up residence on one wall.

Bassous, a survivor of the Lebanese civil war, was inspired by the poetry of Mahmoud Darwish, a Palestinian poet who longed for a five-minute truce in order to enjoy a cup of coffee.

Her painting depicts a scene of chaos, with a figure standing by two chairs and piles of books.

Another painting, “I Am Baghdad” (2013), by New York artist Ayad Alkadhi, is a portrait of an unknown individual from the Iraqi city done in acrylic, charcoal and marker pen on a newspaper on canvas. Arabic calligraphy is superimposed on top.

Alkadhi created the painting during his residency at the Doris Duke estate and gifted it to Shangri La.

The Islamic Art Gallery at the Honolulu Museum of Art is designed to be used in multiple ways, according to Asian art curator Shawn Eichman, including for poetry and dance, as well as temporary exhibits featuring textiles.

“It was the idea of creating a dialogue between traditional and contemporary art and using collections of traditional art as a starting point for a conversation about creating new art,” he said.