The Musthaid Garden ( ka, მუშთაიდის ბაღი) was established between the 1830s and 1840s, by

Mir-Fatah-Agha Mir-Fatah-Agha, commonly known as Mushthaid (died 24 October 1892), was a high-ranking Twelver Shi'a Muslim cleric (specifically, a ''mujtahid'') from Tabriz ( Persian Azerbaijan, Qajar Empire), whom the Russian government credited with keeping t ...

, a high-ranked

Shia Shīʿa Islam or Shīʿīsm is the second-largest Islamic schools and branches, branch of Islam. It holds that the Prophets and messengers in Islam, Islamic prophet Muhammad in Islam, Muhammad designated Ali, ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib as his S ...

Muslim religious leader of the

Persia Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

n Shiites - a

Mujtahid ''Ijtihad'' ( ; ar, اجتهاد ', ; lit. physical or mental ''effort'') is an Islamic legal term referring to independent reasoning by an expert in Islamic law, or the thorough exertion of a jurist's mental faculty in finding a solution to a le ...

(hence the name Mushtaid), who fled from Iran to

Tiflis Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), is the capital and the largest city of Georgia, lying on the banks of the Kura River with a population of approximately 1.5 million pe ...

(Tbilisi) during the Persian

Qajar dynasty The Qajar dynasty (; fa, دودمان قاجار ', az, Qacarlar ) was an IranianAbbas Amanat, ''The Pivot of the Universe: Nasir Al-Din Shah Qajar and the Iranian Monarchy, 1831–1896'', I. B. Tauris, pp 2–3 royal dynasty of Turkic peoples ...

. According to the legend, Mir-Fatah-Agha chose

Tbilisi Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), is the Capital city, capital and the List of cities and towns in Georgia (country), largest city of Georgia (country), Georgia, lying on the ...

as his residence place due to his love to his Georgian wife who died earlier. In 1853, the authorities obtained the control of the garden to set up an example agricultural farm there. In 1858, it was turned into a public recreation centre. In 1935 one of the world's first children's railways has been established here. One of the remarkable features of the garden is the alley of local relict trees, Zelkova. Apart from usual facilities - the restaurant, snack bar, open-air theatre, etc., in 1887 the Caucasian silkworm rearing station was founded in the territory of the Mushthaid Garden under the supervision of Nikolai Nikolaevich Shavrov (1858 -1915). The main building of the station was constructed in 1892 (architect Alexandre Shimkevich, with N. Shavrov taking part in planning) and it is preserved till today, with its present address being: 6, G. Tsabadze St., Tbilisi, now sheltering the State Silk Museum of Georgia, one of the world's oldest silk museums,"State Silk Museum"
/ref> a two-storey building that belongs to the

eclectic Eclectic may refer to: Music * ''Eclectic'' (Eric Johnson and Mike Stern album), 2014 * ''Eclectic'' (Big Country album), 1996 * Eclectic Method, name of an audio-visual remix act * Eclecticism in music, the conscious use of styles alien to th ...

style. The garden occupies an area of approximately 110,000 square metres. During the second half of the 19th century, receptions of high-ranking guests were held in the garden. Today, the Mushthaid Garden is a popular spot in

where the locals walk and rest at leisure. It is known for the attraction of curved mirrors, etc.

References

Georgia (country)–Iran relations Parks in Tbilisi {{Georgia-stub