The most important cultural-educational and religious center of the early Middle Ages near Martvili, right on the top of the hill, is the Chkondidi Monastery. It is said, that here pagans sacrificed the infant children to big oaks (in Megrelian “Didi Chkoni”), where the name of the place originates from. Ekaterine Dadiani, the last queen and the nobles of the principality are buried in the monastery.