Although the painted surfaces of Esna Temple are among the best preserved in Egypt, they are dirty. This is mostly smoke damage caused by early Christians who used temples for refuge. Recently a cleaning solution has been developed to remove the smoke stains. One can only imagine how vivid the colors on these columns will be when the cleaning of these surfaces is complete. Judging by the scale of the project, this will take years of painstaking work.

The next photograph is
Giant Columns.