Recently in Luxury Collection Category

The Taj Mahal is considered the pinnacle of Mughal architecture, but some find it to be nothing less than the most beautiful building in the world. If you've never seen it with your own eyes, it might be worth planning a trip to Agra, India to experience the ultimate expression of love and loss. The Taj Mahal was built between 1632 and 1653 by the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his favorite wife, Mumtaz Mahal, who died in childbirth in 1631. Its white domed mausoleum, gardens, and integrated complex of mosques and other buildings are especially striking due to a combination of Islamic, Indian, and Persian architectural styles, and visitors can easily spend hours scrutinizing the detailed artwork and wandering the landscaped paths. Guided tours are available that point out the most notable features while relaying the story of its creation, which employed thousands of artisans and craftsmen who created one of the most inspiring building ever created. The Taj Mahal is just minutes from the ITC Mughal, Agra, a Luxury Collection property.

One of the more important museums constructed in Europe during the 19th century is Vienna's Kunsthistorisches Museum. It features many pieces commissioned for the monarchs, including 250 Habsburg medals, making this a logical stop for any traveler to the Hotel Bristol, Vienna, whose love of art is only outweighed by their love of history.

Created over a span of 20 years as part of Emperor Franz Joseph I's expansion of Vienna, The Kunsthistorisches was intended to bring together and properly represent the gems collected by the art-loving Habsburgs over many centuries, and to stand as a sort of memorial to their patronage. The collection is wide-ranging: You'll find a renowned, 12,000-object-strong collection of Egyptian antiquities that date as far back as 3500 B.C. In this expansive mix includes examples of the Book of the Dead, cosmetic articles, and coffins; a Picture Gallery featuring works by Titian, Vermeer, Rembrandt, and Caravaggio; and a Coin Cabinet whose 700,000 objects span three millennia, and include coins and paper money as well as pre-monetary forms of payment. Through April 1, 2011, the museum will show an exhibit entitled "Glory of the House of Hasburg," which shows some 250 Habsburg medals made from 1500 to 1918. The "medium for princely display until the end of the Austrian empire" doubles as self portraits and sources of history, as the medals illustrate how those who commissioned them viewed themselves.

[image via Wikimedia Commons]

Britain has long been a nation obsessed with gardening. What fueled that passion to a dramatic extent was the discovery of then-new and exotic specimens from all over the world when British ships and British empire began to touch faraway shores. Novel species from those distant lands - North America, South America, China - were all the rage among the plant fanciers, which counted among their numbers not just wealthy aristocrats, but average citizens. One of the richest treasure troves of flora was found in South Africa, with its Mediterranean climate of dry warm summers and mild cool winters. An astonishing wealth of species are endemic to the area, and many of them are now utterly familiar to gardeners around the world due to their adaptability and xeriscapic qualities. On the west lawn of the British Museum, the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew have created a comprehensive South African environment in miniature, open and free to visitors all day from 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. (through October 10, 2010). Striking species like bird-of-paradise, red hot poker, mountain aloe, agapanthus and sweet thorn acacia are just part of the walk-through landscape. Besides making connections to objects on display in the Museum's African galleries and to people of the region, the landscape offers a dramatic glimpse of the stunning wealth of floral forms and adaptations, and the importance of protecting South Africa's precious biodiversity. The British Museum is less than a mile from the luxurious Park Lane Hotel, and convenient to the Tottenham Court Road Underground Station.

[Image via British Museum]