Photo exhibition “Georgian Story of Muls” is opened today at the exhibition hall of the National Archives of the Ministry of Justice.

The exposition is attended by Mrs. Rita Calcoen and Mr. Michel Vermote, the delegation members of the Institute of the Social History of Belgium, and the descendants of the Muls family, Dominique Michielsen and her daughter.

The industrial activities of the Belgian brother Muls in Chiatura (1908-1926) was resurrected in the photos.

One of the four brothers, August arrived in Georgia in 1908 and became the manager of the French based Societe des Mines de Manganese de Darkveti. In 1910 the second brother Henri joined him and helped in practical organization. In 1913 one more brother Pieter visited our country.

In 1923 August married Liza Tsereteli (widow of the mining engineer Vasil Tsereteli) and in 1924 their son Robert Muls was born. August Muls, who was actively encouraging the National-libratory movement of Georgia, was threatened a danger from the Bolsheviks. That’s why in the middle of 1925 August Muls together with his family left Georgia and settled in Sourbrodt, Belgium.

In 1926, when the Darkveti mine was taken over by the American Industrial Harriman, the rest of the Muls family returned in Belgium as well.

The Institute of the Social History of Belgium, with the permission of Dominique Michielsen, granddaughter of Henri Muls, in 2013 transferred the digital copies of the photos from the family photo album, depicting their life in Georgia.

The photos chosen for the exhibition are mainly taken in Chiatura, villages Darkveti and Zodi. They depict the Muls activities, the work of manganese factory, their labours, village inhabitant, views of Chiatura.