BOULDER — To step into Boulder Dushanbe Teahouse is to step across time and space, to witness thousands of years of tradition and to travel to the namesake city half a world away.

Dushanbe is the capital of Tajikistan, a mountainous country between China and Afghanistan. It was here in the 1980s that 40 artisans carved, sculpted and painted according to ancient traditions as part of an odd, ambitious effort to see their kind of ornate teahouse built in a Colorado college town.

The teahouse, by its own account, would be “a reminder to the citizens of Boulder to value cultural diversity, global cooperation and international friendship.”

And it would be a destination to rival the landmark Flatirons.

This, too, is a head-turning site: a colorful, square building of tall windows and intricate, ceramic panels bordered by Boulder Creek and a rose garden said to display 50-plus varieties. The carved panels, meanwhile, display such legends as the Tree of Life. Through the door, the legend of the Seven Beauties is told by the copper statues standing around a fountain that mimics the reflecting pools found in Central Asian teahouses.

Here inside, the eye wanders on. None of the 12 cedar columns is the same, carved with different patterns. They rise to vibrant mosaics painted across the ceiling. And more meticulously carved panels adorn the walls all around.

The result is said to be “an extraordinary setting that is unlike any other in our hemisphere.” And along with teas flown seasonally from India, China, Japan and beyond, Boulder Dushanbe Teahouse prides itself on a menu “offering a culinary glimpse into the vast world of international cuisine.”

The spicy Indonesian peanut noodles are popular. As are the Korean bulgogi and the chickpea croquettes packed with herbs and spices and dipped in a tomato sauce honoring Persia. And there’s Tajikistan plov, as the traditional rice dish is listed ー honoring the place where Boulder Dushanbe Teahouse began to take shape in 1987.

That year, Dushanbe’s mayor visited Boulder in what nearly represented the culmination of a local initiative to form a relationship with a Soviet-controlled city in a show of peace amid the Cold War. The culmination of this sister city bond would be the teahouse the mayor pledged as a gift to Boulder.

Back in Dushanbe, artists spent the next few years creating the building by hand, all for it to be disassembled into parts that would be packed in some 200 containers. From the Gulf of Finland, the containers crossed the Baltic Sea and the Atlantic Ocean before a rail trip to Denver and a trailer ride to Boulder.

“Then, the magnificent gift languished away in storage for years,” reads an account by Visit Boulder.

The account continues with some of the questions that officials pondered: “Where would the structure be installed? How would the city fund its assemblage? Who would operate it once open, and how ー as a museum, teahouse or restaurant?”

From across Central Park, local restaurateurs Lenny and Sara Martinelli would operate the building as the teahouse it was designed to be. It was designed to be traditional, which meant another yearslong process of reconstruction led by Tajik artists who knew the handcrafted ways.

Boulder Dushanbe Teahouse opened in 1998. Ever since, people near and far have booked reservations for teatime between lunch and dinner.

And all along, artisans from across the world have returned to the building. This has been part of “the big ongoing process,” the Martinellis’ son, Rory, said in a previous interview. “Maintaining things and refurbishing things constantly.”

He has happily greeted those artisans over the years. “It feels really nice to have friends across the world,” he said.