Byzantine writers never tire of admiring and describing this great achievement of Christian art, and a multitude of prophecies and popular narratives about the construction and fate of the great cathedral circulated in the oral tradition of the peoples of the Christian East.

Similarly, the admiration of numerous travelers, both Western and Eastern, including English, Italians, Russians, Arabs, Jews, and others, is notable. Their descriptions and references to the monument itself and the ceremonies, both religious and political, that they happened to witness there—such as liturgies, processions, praises, triumphs, coronations, and funerals of emperors and patriarchs—are of exceptional interest.

In recent times, no other monument has drawn as much interest from scholars of Christian art, architecture, sculpture, painting, and decoration as Hagia Sophia, especially since 1934, when the Turkish government decided to recognize Hagia Sophia as a museum of Byzantine art.

The coordinated scientific research primarily by American archaeologists and scholars has revealed significant portions of the artistic treasures of the renowned cathedral, and international scientific interest in the study of the monument's elements remains unbroken.