When visiting Egypt we are all awe-struck by the scale and beauty of temples, statues and columns. But we seldom think of how it is possible that we can see these treasures still today – thousand of years later.

We have to say a big thank you to Egyptologists from many countries,  who have worked with great passion, enormous dedication, and very patiently for many years to give us what we see today.

Statue in Karnak Temple

On my last visit I had the lucky chance, I say lucky because the Egyptian government does not allow people to visit excavation sites without authorizations from the state. But somehow on this sunny morning when we visited a site next to Queen Hatshepsut’s Temple someone looked the other way.

Here I saw how carefully every stone is cleaned, often  by brushing the sand off gently, categorizing it and storing it on shelves

or covering it with mats to protect it from the sun.

After that the puzzle of putting these pieces in the right place begins. A slow, very slow process. But the results are spectacular.

Columns in the Great Hypo Hall in the Karnak Temple

Sometimes the scars of the repair or a missing piece show. Yet they don’t detract from the beauty, or diminish our admiration and wonder.

More from Egypt soon

Brigitte