Tbilisi’s Mziuri Cafe “first in Georgia“ to become accessible to visually impaired

A freshly renovated cafe in one of Tbilisi's most popular recreational parks is now accessible to blind and visually impaired visitors in a bid to become an example of unrestricted public space.

The New Mziuri Park Cafe on Georgian capital's Chavchavadze Ave is a popular destination for residents and visitors of the city looking to get away from urban noise in a cosy spot surrounded by murals and nature.

On Monday, local children's activist and photographer Anna Goguadze revealed a new initiative to make the cafe's menus readable to those with partial or full absence of vision.

The New Mziuri Cafe menu printed with Braille script. Photo from Anna Goguadze.

Goguadze said the New Mziuri Cafe was now the first cafe in the country to offer menus made in Braille tactile system, an international script helping blind or visually impaired to read information from paper or digital screen.

The announcement was made by the disabled activist on social media and came with an example of the cafe's menu in Braille script.

Goguadze has organised International Children's Day celebrations at Mziuri Park over the last decade. She also works for the cafe in New Mziuri.

The cafe was restored and renovated after the June 13, 2015 flood in Tbilisi. Photo from New Mziuri.

The cafe was completely revitalised recently following the near complete destruction of Mziuri Park in the June 13, 2015 flood that hit Tbilisi.

The park was first rebuilt to its original state a month after the flood using a €10,000 donation from the Estonian government.

Parts of the park including children's amusement areas were also restored and renovated within a project by the United States (US)-based Levan Mikeladze Foundation for Caucasus Studies and the charitable Greinke Family Foundation earlier this year.

Following the restoration works the park became known as New Mziuri and continues to host events for children as well as public talks and concerts.

The park was first opened in 1982 after popular Georgian writer Nodar Dumbadze conceived the idea of a "children's city" in Tbilisi following his trip to the Disneyland amusement park in the US.