It stands in a setting of Ateni gorge in the Tana River valley known not only for its historical monuments, but also for its picturesque landscapes and wine.

With restoration of the 10th century the upper parts of the church façades became faced with carved rectangular greenish-gray stones, while the lower still maintain original reddish color of the ashlar, richly decorated with ornaments and figurative reliefs.

Dynamic figures are clearly outlined, painted predominantly in light colors - blue, grey, purple.

[6] The walls of the church contain numerous inscriptions inside and outside, among them the earliest known in Nuskhuri or Nuskha-Khutsuri, one of the versions of the early Georgian alphabet, dating from 835.

The earliest known examples of Mkhedruli, a currently used Georgian script, are also found in the Ateni Sioni church and date to the 980s.

One of the inscriptions on the church commemorates Adarnase I of Tao-Klarjeti, the first documented Georgian Bagratid nobleman who was the father of Ashot I, the founder of the new royal line of Georgia.

[7] Other inscription on the southern apse tells about the caliph, who got angry with Tbilisi emir Ishaq ibn Isma'il, sending a large troupe commanded by Bugha al-Kabir.