'huge, queer and tawdry' but 'much admired by the public'

I didn't think about the lighting at the time, but I remember it being actually rather dark. The first room may have been fairly bright, but the later rooms definitely are subtly lit. There is one room in the middle that's in total darkness that chronicles the journeys of some rich Western folk to the "East," and I don't remember being overcome by the light when I went into the next room (which, as I recall, covers the subject of the harem, and does it really well).