Parts of these ruins correspond to the extinct town of Cheremi known from the early medieval Georgian chronicles and are inscribed on the list of the Immovable Cultural Monuments of National Significance.

Troubled by lekianoba, a series of marauding inroads from Dagestan, the Cheremi area had virtually been depopulated by 1757, when its episcopal sea was dissolved and the territory assigned to the neighboring Georgian eparchies of Alaverdi, Bodbe, and Ninotsminda.

It unearthed layers from the Late Bronze to the High Middle Ages, among them several stone cist burials, mostly collective, dated to the period between the 3rd and 7th century AD, some of them containing pottery, jewelry, and Roman coins.

[2] The ruins of the town of Late Antiquity, associated by the medieval chronicles with Vakhtang Gorgasali, was found on a hill some 5 km west of the modern village.

The remains of old Cheremi include a citadel, occupying the area of 10 ha, with the ruins of a castle, palace, churches, a circuit wall, and other structures.

The south facade of the north aisle bear a stone inscription in the medieval Georgian asomtavruli script, mentioning "the catholicos Melchizedek".