Okros Tsikhe (the Golden Fortress) was one of the principal strongholds of the Jakeli family and, together with other fortresses, formed a whole defensive system around the heart of the atabegs' domain. The exact date of its construction is unknown; it was probably built at the end of the 13th century or the beginning of the 14th, and no early written records of it survive. In the 15th–16th centuries, as the Turks grew stronger, it played a major role in the defense of the Meskhians.