The wall reliefs once shone with a golden shimmer and bright colors: restoration work in the inner sanctum of the Horus Temple in Edfu has uncovered rare remains of gold leaf and colorful paintings. The team of experts also found traces of handwritten testimonies from the priests on the walls, which reflect the religious ideas of the ancient Egyptians.
It still impressively conveys ancient Egyptian monumental architecture: the Horus sanctuary in the Upper Egyptian city of Edfu is considered the best preserved temple from the time of the pharaohs. The complex is 137 meters long and has a portal structure (pylon) that is 76 meters wide and 35 meters high. Construction took place in stages between 237 and 57 BC under the rule of Kings Ptolemy III to XII. The complex includes a system of courtyards, columned halls, rooms and decorations typical of ancient Egyptian temples, the traditions of which date back to the third millennium BC. In the center of the Edfu temple was a room in which the statue and barque of the falcon god Horus, to whom the sanctuary was dedicated, were kept.
The amazingly good state of preservation of the complex is due to centuries of sand being buried under it. However, as with many other temple complexes in Egypt, an important aspect of its former splendor has largely disappeared: the reliefs on the walls, columns and ceilings that are still clearly visible today were once colorfully decorated. It is also known that some elements were covered with gold-plated copper foil or covered with thin gold leaf decorations. Remains of these shimmering decorations have only rarely been found in Egyptian temple complexes.
Traces of former glory
But now, in addition to the remains of the painting, traces of gilding have also been discovered in the temple of Edfu. They were discovered as part of a restoration project by Egyptian experts together with experts from the University of Würzburg. The sandstone reliefs in the barque sanctuary were freed of dust, bird droppings and other deposits such as soot and examined. As the team reports, this revealed remains of the former gilding in numerous places in the higher wall areas.
“The gilding of the figures probably served not only to symbolically immortalize and deify them, but also contributed to the mystical aura of the room. That must have been very impressive, especially when the sunlight shone in,” says Victoria Altmann-Wendling from the University of Würzburg. “The fact that the gods were completely gilded is also particularly interesting. We also find this in the text sources that describe gold as the flesh of the gods,” says the Egyptologist.
Corrected hieroglyphs and personal inscriptions
The newly discovered traces of multi-coloured paintings also provided new clues about what the room once looked like. They revealed details of scenes and hieroglyphs that were not visible in the relief alone.
For example, elements of clothing or offerings were once accentuated with color. The team also found examples of how the colors were used to subsequently correct hieroglyphs that had been incorrectly carved into stone. “Ancient quality management is visible here in painting,” says project leader Martin Stadler from the University of Würzburg.
As the team concludes, the discoveries are rounded off by traces of so-called Dipinti. These are text documents handwritten in ink in demotic script. Like a kind of graffiti, priests apparently once left them on the wall in the barque sanctuary. They were prayers addressed to Horus, so-called Proskynemata. Until now, such personal inscriptions have been known only from the outer temple areas or doorways, but not from the Holy of Holies itself, where the barque and the statue of the revered god were located, say the experts.
“These finds provide new insights into the ‘spatial biography’ of the temple as well as into the beliefs and cult practices of the priests,” writes the University of Würzburg in its communication on the discoveries made as part of the restoration project.