A 2,000-year-old temple is being restored to its original spectacular colors, adding new meaning to its ancient Egyptian inscriptions

For over 2,000 years, a parade of people, animals, and the elements took their toll on the temple walls.

The excavators found evidence of bird droppings, incense grease, soot from oil lamps, and more, caking the ancient inscriptions, Victoria Altmann-Wendling, an Egyptologist involved with the project, told Business Insider via email.

Cleaning off the mess involved a number of steps, including dabbing on a chemical solution that they left on the walls for several hours. Restorers also applied a mix of chemicals to help the original paint better adhere to the walls.

Because the ceilings are so high — 26 feet in some places — restorers stood on scaffolding for some of the work.

Only a few small openings in the ceiling let in light, so they had to bring in lamps to brighten the dim interior.

As they worked through the summer and fall, temperatures could reach over 104 degrees Fahrenheit. “A sweaty affair,” Altmann-Wendling said.

Yet, it was all worth it to restore the temple walls to their original vibrance.

Experts began to see reds, blues, greens, and other colors as they wiped away the grime.

“The rediscovery of the multi-colored temples of Egypt will revolutionize the impression of the sanctuaries” that otherwise blend in with the desert sand, Stadler said.

Researchers with the University of Würzburg have been studying the temple’s inscriptions since 2016 but a large part of the story was untold because of the missing colors, Stadler said.

While the reliefs and inscriptions have meanings on their own, the colors also have symbolism and add their own significance.

Red, for example, could indicate a person was wearing leather, while blue sometimes signified divinity.

The temple’s colors have two purposes. The artists based them in reality, with green plants, black hair, and blue skies.

“On the other hand, they had great symbolic power,” Altmann-Wendling said.

For example, the lower walls depict objects in various shades of blue that represent the Nile’s floods and the gods who, the Egyptians considered, were responsible for the annual event, she said. The blue symbolizes the religious tie to the event.

While gold accents were common features in Egyptian temples, the fragile gilding often decayed or was removed. Many temples today have minimal gold left.

That’s why restorers were surprised to come across large patches of gold in the Temple of Horus. It’s possible the building’s roof helped preserve and protect the remaining traces from decay over the millennia.

“So far, gilding has mainly been found in smaller side temples,” related to the birth of a local child god, Altmann-Wendling said.

In the images, the king’s necklace, crown, and bracelets are gold. Additionally, the gods Horus-Behedety and Harsomtus are entirely gilded. “This corresponds to textual descriptions that the body of the gods was made from gold,” Altmann-Wendling said.

The luster may have symbolized their immortality while also adding “to the mystical aura of the room,” Altmann-Wendling said in a statement.

In the scene pictured above on the left, the king offers a wedjat eye to the god Harsomtus, which is the eye Horus lost while battling evil forces, according to the researchers.

The temple was dedicated to Horus, and images and references to the god appear on the wall. “In Edfu, he was venerated as a sky god, one eye being the sun, the other the moon,” Stadler said.

In the sanctuary, there’s a black granite shrine that’s even older than the temple. Hymns inscribed along the sanctuary’s door frame were meant to be sung in the morning to awaken Horus and the other sleeping deities. These gods and goddesses resided in 13 chapels surrounding the sanctuary.

Experts are currently cleaning a chapel dedicated to the moon god Khonsu as the restoration of the temple continues.