Information about the building of the Gremi Church of the Mother of God is provided by the trilingual building inscription (in Georgian, Armenian and Persian) surviving above its entrance. Here is the historically important part of the Georgian text: "I, the most sinful Matarsi, built this court church... in the time of the reign of its lord Alexander, in the twenty-third year, chronicon 283..." All three inscriptions share one content but are not exact translations; they complement one another and together yield the following: in 1595, in the reign of Alexander, Matarsi son of Zakaria built the church of the Mother of God as his court church. He raised it over the grave of his wife and endowed it with offerings (three households, a vineyard, shops and so on).