Botanical garden

Zugdidi Botanical Garden is one of the oldest landscape architecture examples that are preserved to this day. Prince of Samegrelo, David Dadiani and his wife, Ekaterine Chavchavadze are responsible for its creation. In the beginning, David Dadiani skirted a part of the forest near the palace and decided to create a decorative garden. He hired the gardeners, who had to constantly maintain the garden. Later, Ekaterine took over it and invited Joseph Babini, a professional gardener from Trieste, Italy and appointed him as the main landscape architect. He planned the garden in accordance with a Frech symmetrical style and created artificial landscapes, which perfectly mixed with the natural environment. Later, during Ottoman–Russian war, Ottoman army has completely destroyed the garden. After returning from Paris, Ekaterine Chavchavadze began its restoration and invited landscape architects from Italy, brothers Giovani and Gaetano Zamberletti. The garden was revitalized with alleys, pools, artificial island and new plants. To this day it represents a masterpiece of landscape architecture and one must suspect, that this was the trigger for Mingrelian's special attitude towards the yards and the gardens, which distinguishes Samegrelo from the other regions of Georgia. Most importantly, Zugdidi Botanical Garden allows us to physically experience the lifestyle of the 19th-century aristocrats and imagine the world in an era, where humans were still connected to nature and were communicating at a long distance via handwritten letters. This garden almost seems forgotten, but it still thoroughly emanates the spirit of the Romantic era.