People

Many individuals have shaped the Emamzadeh Yahya over its long history. This gallery focuses on the shrine’s pilgrims, visitors, researchers, restorers, and present community. This emphasis on ‘people’ generally balances the conventional art historical focus on original patrons and artists alone and contributes to our holistic appreciation of the living complex.

Pilgrims Inscriptions (yadegari) written by pilgrims during ziyarat are an important window into a tomb’s sacred life. In this essay, art historian Nazanin Shahidi Marnani documents the yadegari in the Emamzadeh Yahya, most of which are on the stucco inscription and contain Persian poetry.
Photographers Photography has had a major impact on the seeing and understanding of the Emamzadeh Yahya. This eight-part feature turns the lens on the photographers themselves, considering their biographies and providing practical resources for accessing their archives.
Preservationists The Emamzadeh Yahya has experienced many waves of renovation and restoration over its long history. In this essay, art historian Zahra Khademi considers the history of preservation in twentieth-century Iran and the restoration of the Emamzadeh Yahya in the early 1980s.
Community The Emamzadeh Yahya serves many needs for the residents of Kohneh Gel. In this social history based on eight months of observational fieldwork, anthropologist Maryam Rafeienezhad explores the present life of the complex and the traditions and rituals that bind the community.
Networks The Emamzadeh Yahya complex resonates across local, national, and global networks. This series of drawings visualizes the forces that have ‘called’ individuals and institutions to the shrine over time, including devotion to the saint, the tomb’s luster tiles, and the site’s preservation. Coming soon.
Entombed Countless individuals have wished to be buried near Yahya b. ʿAli, and their tombstones are key sources for understanding the shrine’s continued resonance. In this essay, epigraphist Emadaldin Sheikhalhokamaee considers the inscriptions on four historical tombstones. Coming soon.