Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) Mohamed Ismail Khaled on Saturday 7/12/2024 inspected the temple of Esna in Luxor governorate to stand on the progress made so far in ongoing works of its restoration project on the ground.
Since the Esna Temple restoration began in 2018, impressive milestones have been achieved, including restoring the ceiling paintings illustrating ancient constellations and the goddess Nut and recovering 18 of the 24 interior columns.
Khaled said the visit is one in a series of visits to regularly follow up on all renovation and development projects of ongoing archaeological sites.
The ministry is now acting to place Esna city on the global tourism map, he added.
In a related development, he headed to Aswan governorate to inspect the ongoing overhauling and upgrade works in Edfu Temple.
The joint archaeological mission between the Supreme Council of Antiquities and the University of Würzburg in Germany succeeded in revealing the original colors of the inscriptions of Edfu Temple for the first time during its restoration project.
The project, which began in 2021, is part of a restoration initiative for the temple’s roof and is funded by the German Gerda Henkel Foundation.
The project includes the restoration and cleaning of the temple’s cabins and interior walls, in addition to repairing colors, removing soot, and conducting thorough studies of the texts and landscapes on the walls of the Holy of Holies and adjacent rooms.
