The church lapsed in oblivion and was brought to scholarly attention only in the late 19th century by Dimitri Bakradze and Ekvtime Taqaishvili.

[3] After some preliminary cleaning and conservation works at the church, a major reconstruction program was launched in 2019 and is projected to be completed in three years.

[4] The Bieti church, measuring 11.8 × 17.7 m, was built of dressed stone in a cross-in-square plan, with the centrally located and outsized dome and semicircular apse with the deep bema.

The eastern wall still retains fragments of medieval frescoes influenced by the late Byzantine Palaeologan art.

The outer walls were decorated with stone carvings and bore inscriptions in the medieval Georgian asomtavruli script.