PhD Student Hossein Nakhaei and art historian Dr. Keelan Overton publish a comprehensive historiography of a luster mihrab entitled “From Varamin to Honolulu: The Displacement, Commodification, and Aestheticization of the Emamzadeh Yahya’s Luster Mihrab, 1863–2025.” This essay traces the extraordinary journey of one of Iran’s most important luster tile ensembles, from its sacred space in the Emamzadeh Yahya at Varamin to its current display in the Shangri La Museum of Islamic Art, Culture & Design in Honolulu. Along the way, the mihrab was photographed, celebrated, sold, forgotten, damaged, restored, and transformed—both physically, and conceptually. Spanning over 160 years, this essay and accompanying timeline is a microcosm of how thousands of luster tiles were extracted, displaced and commodified across the 19th and 20th centuries. But the story does not end in the past. It also traces the mihrab’s ongoing life—in the physical setting of Shangri La, across digital platforms, and within scholarly discourse—where its long displacement continues to raise questions about representation and interpretation of cultural heritage outside its original context.
Read the full text of the article on the Khamseen website: https://khamseen-emamzadeh-yahya-varamin.web.itd.umich.edu/EYV4KO&CG/en_museum_mihrab.php
Read Hossein Nakhaei's student profile here: https://www.haa.pitt.edu/people/hossein-nakhaei