Restoring a priceless historic landmark is no easy feat. And the Boulder Dushanbe Teahouse, a local icon for 26 years, is no ordinary landmark. The teahouse was a gift to Boulder from its sister city of Dushanbe, Tajikistan.
Artisans in Dushanbe built it there, deconstructed it and shipped it overseas in parts. Its reassembly at 1770 13th St. was finished in 1998, and its ornate, brightly-painted walls and intricate carved wood and plaster designs have delighted visitors ever since.
But the building has started to show signs of aging. There are non-structural cracks in the wooden section at the top of the building and paint is starting to peel on parts of the building’s exterior. Other parts of the teahouse have needed some upkeep in the past, and the painstaking, detailed work of restoring the teahouse to its original glory demands a special skill set.
Artisan Maruf Mirakhmatov, a trained artist and educator from Khujand, Tajikistan, first came to Boulder six years ago to do some of this restoration work. With the city’s blessing, Mirakhmatov has returned to town to spend his summer sprucing up the exterior of the teahouse. And for him, the project has a personal meaning — Mirakhmatov’s connections with the teahouse run deep.
His grandfather, Mirpulat Mirakhmatov, was among those who helped assemble the teahouse in Boulder after it was shipped here. And his father, Haydar Mirakhmatov, helped with past restoration work in 2013 and 2014. Mirakhmatov’s and his family .
