Professor Kazimierz Michałowski supervises the digging of a test trench across the Great Kom

The Nubia Campaign was an extensive international mission to preserve ancient legacies threatened by flooding from the imminent construction of the Aswan High Dam in Egypt and the resulting formation of the artificial reservoir, Lake Nasser. The paintings discovered by the Polish archaeological team working in Faras were executed on the plaster walls of the cathedral with tempera paint. After their discovery, they were painstakingly removed from the cathedral walls and since 1972 have been on display at the National Museum in Warsaw along with decorative architectural elements from the cathedral and churches and structures in Faras. Epitaphs of local clergymen and other priceless artefacts from the area, including ceramic pottery produced in local workshops, are also displayed.