Built in the Greco-Roman
period, this is a temple that has an image of Cleopatra and her son on the west facade.
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For hundreds of years people during Europe’s Dark Ages (it was dark in Egypt too) folks lived inside the temple and hundred of years of fires for cooking and heat left all the ceiling black with soot. Restoration is now going on to remove the soot, but not the color. Technology possibly connected to the work on the Sistine Chapel restoration where hundreds of scientists helped identify compounds that could do exactly that. Although the Chapel was plaster and this is sandstone I would think that the chemistry is related.
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The temple belongs to Hathor the goddess of beauty and joy. She has a wide face and the ears of a cow, the animal connected with fertility and abundance.
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The ceilings are painted with lovely colors and even though applied thousands of years ago, give voice to the joy of the goddess.
daily woodring 