Gremi, Medieval citadel in Kakheti, Georgia

Gremi is a citadel on a rocky hill in Kakheti, Georgia, comprising the Church of the Archangels, a three-story castle, a bell tower and a wine cellar within a rough stone wall. The church is built of tan and reddish brick, with a tall conical grey metal roof on a polygonal drum pierced by narrow arched windows; a separate square brick tower with a similar roof stands to its right.

Gremi became the capital of the Kingdom of Kakheti in 1466, after the breakup of the Georgian kingdom. King Levan had the Church of the Archangels built in 1565 and frescoed by 1577. Shah Abbas I's armies razed the town in 1615, and the kings of Kakheti moved their residence back to Telavi.

The name Gremi comes from the town that once stood below the citadel. Manuscripts were copied here from the 15th century, including the collection Svinaqsari prepared under Queen Tinatin in 1535. On the west wall inside the church, a fresco shows King Levan holding a model of the church, with an inscription in Georgian asomtavruli script.

The grounds stand on a hill overlooking the surrounding vineyards and fields, and a path leads from the entrance up to the church. Inside the castle is a small museum displaying finds from excavations carried out between 1939 and 1949.

The church's west wall holds a fresco of King Levan of Kakheti holding a model of the church, with a Georgian asomtavruli inscription; his tomb is nearby. The bell tower now houses a museum with archaeological finds and a 16th-century cannon, and its walls carry a series of Kakhetian king portraits painted by Levan Chogoshvili in 1985.