The ancient town site holds the ruins of many fortification, religious and other buildings, the most important of which is the Samshvilde Sioni, a large central-domed episcopal cathedral and monument of 8th-century Georgian architecture. The Kartlis Tskhovreba tells us that in the 5th century Sagdukht, mother of Vakhtang Gorgasali, "built the Sioni of Samshvilde". The cathedral is ruined; the eastern part is comparatively well preserved. Fragments of a long inscription on the east facade recount the history of the cathedral's construction