Ismaili.NET - Heritage F.I.E.L.D.

ver the course of nearly 50 years, Prince Sadruddin and Princess Catherine Aga Khan managed to amass quite the collection of Indian and Islamic paintings. The couple boasted everything from paintings and manuscripts to drawings and miniatures, spanning the 16th to 19th centuries and each of indelible quality. On October 28, 2025, the Aga Khan collection broke records at auction, becoming the highest-value sale of South Asian art across any category in history.

On a clear day, with binoculars, you can look across lake Geneva from Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan's office to the towers of his seventh century Chateau Bellerive, at least you could until yesterday, when he resigned after 12 years as UN High Commissioner for Refugees. Outside are well-kept lawns, winding paths, splendid great evergreens. It all seems a million miles away from the squalor and misery one associates with the very word refugee.