The Besleti bridge (also Tamar's bridge) is a 12th-century monument of Georgian material culture near Sokhumi, on the Besleti River. A fortress once stood by the bridge, guarding the city approach through the narrow valley against raids by the mountain tribes. Until recently a monumental stone stela with a Georgian text stood at the head of the bridge; it disappeared in the early 1990s. Georgian Asomtavruli inscriptions survive across the bridge to this day.