[2] Arbo houses a memorial museum of the 19th-century Georgian writer Niko Lomouri, a native of the village, and two churches of Saint George, one, a single nave basilica, built in the 10th century, and the other, a crossed domed design, built in the 19th century.

It is closely linked with the late 10th-century church of St. George, which is associated with the surviving tradition of an August feast of that saint, known as arbooba.

[4] The village is mentioned in the 18th-century geography by Prince Vakhushti, several documents from that century, and a travelogue of Johann Anton Güldenstädt (1787–1791).

During the August 2008 Russo-Georgian War, the village was briefly occupied by the Russian and South Ossetian forces, resulting in the temporary displacement of 60-65% of Arbo's population.

According to the Georgian Ombudsman's Office, Arbo saw an "incursion of armed bands, robbery,... as well as violence towards peaceful population.