Final answer:
The correct answer is option 1. The Hagia Sophia's interior is panelled with marble and decorated with ornate mosaics made of various stones and glass, requiring over twenty years to complete. Precious metals like gold were used extensively in the mosaics, emphasizing Byzantine opulence and religious iconography.
Step-by-step explanation:
The interior of the Hagia Sophia is renowned for its decorative mosaics and aesthetically appealing materials. The walls were covered with marble and further adorned with intricate mosaics made from pieces of cut glass, colored glass, colored stone, or precious stone, alongside glazed tile. Creating these mosaics involved the artist applying glue to small areas of the wall or ceiling, pressing in the mosaic pieces, and then setting them with sanded grout, reminiscent of tile installation today. This meticulous process took over twenty years to complete due to the complexity of the artwork.
Additionally, the Hagia Sophia features significant amounts of precious gold in its decoration, especially noticeable in the tenth-century mosaic of Mary and the child Jesus, flanked by the emperors Justinian and Constantine, which demonstrates the opulence of Byzantine church decoration. The materials brought in for the Hagia Sophia included white marble from Egypt, green porphyry from Egypt, yellow stone from Syria, black stone from the Bosporus, and columns appropriated from ancient structures, like those from the Temple of Artemis. With halos on the figures depicting holiness and an overall sense of grandeur, the Hagia Sophia emulates the splendor desired by Emperor Justinian.