Dr Nadhra Shahbaz Khan, Associate Professor of art and architectural history at LUMS (Lahore, Pakistan), specilaizes in the visual and material culture of the Punjab during the Mughal, Sikh, and colonial periods (16th–early 20th century). Her publications in international peer reviewed journals, conference papers and other research activities, especially her book titled Maharaja Ranjit Singh’s Samādhi in Lahore: A Summation of Sikh Architectural and Decorative Practices and a website (https://www.sikhvirsa.org.pk/home/) that features Sikh artefacts in the Lahore Fort’s Sikh Gallery, have successfully brought Sikh art and architecture at the forefront of Pakistan’s heritage discussions and conservation activities. This website has received the Times Higher Education Award Asia 2022 for Excellence and Innovation in the Arts. Her association with the Aga Khan Cultural Service–Pakistan for their Lahore Fort project as Consultant Historian has continued since 2016 and as Curator of the Lahore Fot’s Shah Burj Museum 2023–2025. She is the recipient of the LUMS Excellence in Research Award 2019, and the prestigious Palmes Académiques, bestowed by the French Ministry of National Education and Youth in February 2025. Dr. Khan has curated a number of exhibitions at LUMS of which the latest featured her research on Sikh material culture, titled Maharaja Ranjit Singh’s Toshakhana: The Material Splendor of 19th Century Punjab in 2025–2026.
Nadhra Khan has held several fellowships at reputabel international institutions such as her Visiting Professorship at PSIA (Paris School of International Affairs), Sciences Po, Paris, France (2023); the Lakshmi Mittal South Asia Institute, Harvard (2021–2024); the Institute for Advanced Study in Asian Cultures & Theologies, the Chinese University of Hong Kong (2023); Oxford University (Barakat Trust 2014–2015); INHA Paris (2015); Princeton University (Fulbright 2014–2015), and SOAS, London (Charles Wallace 2010–2011). Titles of her forthcoming and recent articles published in international journals are: “The Picture Wall at the Lahore Fort: Patronage, Narrative Panels, Metaphors, and Meanings” (forthcoming) in In Aga Khan Historic Cities Program; “Architecture: Lahore” (2025) in Brill’s Encyclopedia of Sikhism vol. II; “Sikh-Period Architectural Ornament in Punjab: A Synthesis of Tradition & Innovation” (2023) in Sikh Research Journal, 8 (1); “Men, Monuments & Memoirs: Reclaiming Sites of the Indian Independence Movement in Lahore” (2022) in The 1947 Partition of British India: Looking Back, Informing the Future by Harvard South Asia Institute, and “Persian-Punjabi/Urdu Identities of Traditional Geometrical Patterns Lost During the Colonial Rule of the Punjab (1849–1947)” (2021) in Manazir Journal, vol. III.
Khan, Nadhra Shahbaz. (2008). Frescoes Unveiled: Maharaja Ranjit Singh s Samadhi in Lahore. MARG, 59 (4), 54-59.
Khan, Nadhra Shahbaz. (2023). Sikh-Period Architectural Ornament in Punjab: A Synthesis of Tradition & Innovation. In Sikh Research Journal, 8 (1): 35-56. https://sikhresearchjournal.org/sikh-period-architectural-ornament-in-punjab-a-synthesis-of-tradition-innovation-nadhra-shahbaz-khan/
Khan, Nadhra Shahbaz. (2012). Posthumous Homage Paid to Maharaja Ranjit Singh. Jamal: A Journal of Aesthetics, 1 (1), 65-74.
Khan, Nadhra Shahbaz. (2021). Persian-Punjabi/Urdu Identities of Traditional Geometrical Patterns Lost During the Colonial Rule of the Punjab (1849-1947). In Sandra Gianfreda, Francine Giese, Axel Langer and Ariane Varela Braga (eds.).Geometry and Colour: Decoding the Arts of Islam in the West 1880-1945. Manazir Journal, (3): 45-63. https://bop.unibe.ch/manazir/article/view/8384/11346
Khan, Nadhra Shahbaz. (2010). Frescoes in Maharaja Ranjit Singh s Samadhi. In Barbara Schmitz (ed.), Lahore: Paintings, Murals and Calligraphy, MARG, 61 (4), 72-85.
Khan, Nadhra Shahbaz. (2018). Ayina-Kari in the Sheesh Mahal, Lahore Fort: Issues of Attribution, Appreciation and Interpretation. Artibus Asiae, 78, (2), (2018): 181-222
Khan, Nadhra Shahbaz. (2010). Life at the Lahore Darbar: 1799-1839. Journal of South Asian Studies, 25 (2), 283-301.
Khan, Nadhra Shahbaz. (2018). Maharaja Ranjit Singh s Samadhi in Lahore: A Summation of Sikh Architectural and Decorative Practices. Berlin, E.B. Publishers.
Khan, Nadhra Shahbaz. (2017). Industrial Art Education in Colonial Punjab: Kipling s Pedagogy and Hereditary Craftsmen. In Julius Bryant and Susan Weber (eds.), John Lockwood Kipling: Arts and Crafts in the Punjab and London (468-487). New York: Yale University Press.
Khan, Nadhra Shahbaz. (2019). The Picture Wall s Iconography and Aesthetic Analysis. In Philip Jodidio (ed.), Lahore: A Framework for Urban Conservation (294-309). Aga Khan Historic Cities Program, Munich: Prestel.
Khan, Nadhra Shahbaz. (2022). Men, Monuments & Memoirs: Reclaiming Sites of the Indian Independence Movement in Lahore. In Jennifer Leaning and Shubhangi Bhadada(eds.), The 1947 Partition of British India: Looking Back, Informing the Future (245-278). SAGE Publishing
Khan, Nadhra Shahbaz. (2013). The Secular Sikh Maharaja and his Muslim Wife: Rani Gul Bahar Begum. In Mahesh Sharma and Padma Kaimal (eds), Indian Painting: Themes, Histories, Interpretations (247-258). Ahmedabad, India: Mapin.
Khan, Nadhra Shahbaz. (2025). Architecture: Lahore. In K.A. Jacobsen, A. Malhotra, K. Myrvold & E. Nesbitt, eds., Brill s Encyclopedia of Sikhism, vol. II, Leiden. 67-77.
Website: https://www.sikhvirsa.org.pk Featuring the Sikh Gallery, Lahore Fort collection. Winner of the Times Higher Education Award 2022.
Khan, Nadhra Shahbaz. (Accepted for 2023). John Lockwood Kipling. In Athar Tahir (ed.), The Oxford Companion to Pakistani Art. Karachi, Pakistan: OUP
