Egypt’s second-largest ancient temple is getting a facelift. For three years, experts have been carefully cleaning and restoring parts of the 2,000-year-old Temple of Edfu—and shedding new light on what the richly decorated house of worship looked like in its prime.

A joint archeological mission revealed the original colors of the Edfu Temple, as well as never-before-seen hieroglyphic inscriptions.

In ancient Egypt, paint was sourced from minerals, such as ocre, that were then ground into a powder, according to research from the Metropolitan Museum of Art. However, the color blue — which is commonly seen — cannot be found in nature, so it was created by combining and heating a mix of natural materials, such as sand, lime and copper.

A joint team of researchers from Egypt and Germany have announced their first successes restoring color to the ancient Temple of Edfu.

Archaeologists breathed new life into the ancient inscriptions of Egypt’s Edfu Temple. The ongoing restoration project revealed the temple’s original colors, as well as new insights into Egypt’s fascinating history and enduring visual culture.