Columns at Egypt’s Karnak Temple Complex Cleaned

LUXOR, EGYPT—Ahram Online reports that cleaning of the 134 columns in the Great Hypostyle Hall at the Karnak Temple Complex is underway. Mostafa Waziri of the Supreme Council of Antiquities said the project began last month with the 12 papyri-shaped columns in the center of the Hypostyle Hall. The removal of sand and dust from the first column has revealed different colors and engravings applied in antiquity. The colossus of Thutmose II at the temple will also be restored, added restoration and preservation advisor Gharib Sonbol. To read about an out-of-the-way chapel to the god Osiris at Karnak, go to "Honoring Osiris."