Egyptian Antiquities Department and Unesco World Heritage are working hard to restore the beautiful temples and tombs of Egypt. You can see the colors in this photo of the ceiling, which would have been undamaged by sand and moisture. The walls have color as well, but it will only reappear after painstaking cleaning by trained archeologists.

While environmental damage has been substantial, it is reversible. Permanent damage was done by Christians, horrified at pictures of false gods. They actually chiseled the faces on many of the pictures. Luckily, many of the tombs were preserved simply because they were covered with sand dunes and hadn’t been discovered yet.

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