Italy's famed art restorers Egypt have cracked the problem of how to preserve Egypt's ancient wall paintings.
All of Egypt's famous pyramids and tombs contain once-vivid wall paintings which were used as models by the Greeks, Romans and eventually, the Renaissance masters.
Unfortunately, their colours are fading fast and could disappear altogether, Egyptian authorities say.
Which is where the Italian restorers come in.
"Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities gave us permission to take bits of the paintings, and what we found was surprising," said Giuseppe Claudio Infranca of the Trapani-based conservation lab ISAD.
"Up till now people thought the frescoes were made from earth colours, which is why the results (of conservation efforts) have been so disappointing".
ISAD discovered, on the other hand, that the pigments came from a range of minerals which they are now set to recreate.
"For the first time ever, the colours of Egyptian wall paintings will be reproduced in the laboratory," Infranca said.
ISAD will use the National Resarch Council's inorganic surface chemistry lab in Padua to do the actual reconstruction of the lost colours.
Then they'll be off to Egypt to start applying them to the greying walls of tombs of immortals like Tutankhamen, Ramses and Nefertiti.
