3D Modeling as an Analytical Tool: Reassessing the Spatial Layout of the Emamzadeh Yahya Complex in Varamin

Hossein Nakhaei

The Emamzadeh Yahya in Varamin today survives as a single domed chamber, but nineteenth-century photographs show that it was once part of a larger architectural complex including a monumental entrance portal and an octagonal tomb tower (figs. 1–3). Given the inability to excavate the site due to its function as an active cemetery, these photographs provide the primary evidence to investigate its earlier spatial configuration. Using simple 3D modeling aligned with photographs taken in 1881 and 1897, this lecture reassesses an earlier plan of the complex proposed by Donald N. Wilber in 1955 (fig. 4). The results suggest a more compact layout and offer a reinterpretation of key architectural features, including the eyvan in front of the domed chamber (fig. 5). More broadly, this study shows how 3D modeling can assist in interpreting spatial information embedded in historical photographs and provide an alternative method to reimagine lost architectural layouts when physical remains are limited and excavation is almost impossible.

Figure 1. View of the tomb of Emamzadeh Yahya from the northeast corner of the courtyard. Photograph by Hossein Nakhaei, 2013.
Figure 2. General view of the Emamzadeh Yahya complex, taken from the northwest. Photograph by Jane Dieulafoy, June 1881, preserved in ‘Perse 1.’ Bibliothèque de l’Institut National d’Histoire de l’Art, Paris, 4 Phot 18 (1), p. 65, no. 129.
Figure 3. General view of the Emamzadeh Yahya complex, taken from the northeast. Photograph by Friedrich Sarre, 30 December 1897, reproduced in Denkmäler persischer Baukunst, 1910 (textband), p. 59. Source: Heidelberg University Digital Library
Figure 4. Donald Newton Wilber’s proposed plan of the Emamzadeh Yahya complex. After Wilber, The Architecture of Islamic Iran: The Il Khānid Period, 1955, fig. 6.
Figure 5. The author’s revised plan (in red) of the Emamzadeh Yahya complex overlapped with an aerial photograph of the site taken in 1343 Sh/1964. Source of the aerial photograph: The Center for Documentation and Research of the Faculty of Architecture and Urban Planning, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, acc. 879.

The Lecture

Watch the lecture on our YouTube page in high resolution.

Related pages:

  • Keelan Overton and Hossein Nakhaei’s essay on the history of the Emamzadeh Yahya
  • Keelan Overton’s photo timeline tracing the visual history of the Emamzadeh Yahya
  • Hamid Abhari’s filmed tour of the Emamzadeh Yahya and Kohneh Gel neighborhood
  • Zahra Khademi’s essay on the restoration of the Emamzadeh Yahya in the 1980s
  • Hossein Nakhaei and Keelan Overton’s interactive feature (ArcGIS StoryMap) on the architectural heritage of Varamin

Archives:

  • Albums Dieulafoy, Bibliothèque de l’Institut National d’Histoire de l’Art, Paris, NUM 4 PHOT 018 [INHA]
  • Fonds Albert Gabriel INHA, Médiathèque du patrimoine et de la photographie, Ministère de la Culture (France)
  • The Center for Documents and Records, Cultural Heritage Organization of Iran, Tehran
  • The Center for Documentation and Research of the Faculty of Architecture and Urban Planning, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran

Bibliography:

  • Dieulafoy, Jane. “La Perse, La Chaldée et La Susiane,” Le tour du monde: Nouveau journal des voyages (January 1883): 1–80. [BnF Gallica]
  • Dieulafoy, Jane. La Perse, la Chaldée et la Susiane: relation de voyage contenant 336 gravures sur bois d’après les photographies de l’auteur et deux cortes. Paris: Librairie Hachette et Cie, 1887. [Internet Archive]
  • Haji-Qassemi, Kambiz, ed. Ganjnameh: Cyclopaedia of Iranian Islamic Architecture, vol. 13, Emamzadehs and Mausoleums (Part III). Tehran: Shahid Beheshti University Press, 2010. [WorldCat]
  • Overton, Keelan, and Hossein Nakhaei. “Chronological Overview of the Emamzadeh Yahya Complex, ca. 1200–2024.” Essay in The Emamzadeh Yahya at Varamin: An Online Exhibition of an Iranian Shrine, directed and edited by Keelan Overton. 33 Arches Productions, January 15, 2025. Host: Khamseen: Islamic Art History Online. [this website]
  • Sarre, Friedrich. Denkmäler persischer Baukunst. Berlin: Wasmuth, 1910. [Heidelberg University]
  • Wilber, Donald Newton. The Architecture of Islamic Iran: the Il Khānid Period. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1955. [WorldCat]
  • ایرنا. «بقعه امامزاده یحیی (ع) ورامین جاذبه‌ای تاریخی، میراثی گرانقدر از گذشتگان.» ۲۹ آذر ۱۳۹۹ش. [IRNA, “Boqʿeh-ye Emāmzādeh Yahyā Varāmīn jāzebeh-ī tārīkhī”] [IRNA]
  • نخعی،‌ حسین. مسجد جامع ورامین: بازشناسی روند شکل‌گیری و سیر تحول. تهران: دانشگاه شهید بهشتی و روزنه، ۱۳۹۷ش. [Nakhaei, Masjed-e jāmeʿ-e Varāmīn] [WorldCat]

Useful readings on methodology:

  • Drucker, Johanna. Visualization and Interpretation: Humanistic Approaches to Display. The MIT Press, 2020. [MIT Press]
  • Jessop, Martyn. “Digital Visualization as a Scholarly Activity.” Literary and Linguistic Computing 23, 3 (2008): 281–93. [Oxford Academic]

Acknowledgments: Thank you to Keelan Overton for carefully reviewing the script of this talk and for providing valuable feedback.

Hossein Nakhaei PhD candidate, History of Art & Architecture, University of Pittsburgh

Citation: Hossein Nakhaei, “3D Modeling as an Analytical Tool: Reassessing the Spatial Layout of the Emamzadeh Yahya Complex in Varamin.” Recorded lecture in The Emamzadeh Yahya at Varamin: An Online Exhibition of an Iranian Shrine, directed and edited by Keelan Overton. 33 Arches Productions, May 17, 2026. Host: Khamseen: Islamic Art History Online.