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An exhibition in Athens showing copies of sculptures reproduced fully painted in bright colours as archaeologists say they originally were has shocked and disappointed visitors. The beauty of ancient Greek sculpture is often synonymous with visions of white marble statues and monuments such as the Parthenon and the "kore", but "Gods in Colour" at the National Archaeology Museum of Athens is a display of 23 copies of famous marble statues and sculpture reproduced in their true form -- painted in detailed colours of blue, red, green and yellow. The painted replicas of the exhibition, brought from Munich's Glyptothek museum where they were created, remind visitors that the architecture and sculpture of ancient Greek cities were not white marble but covered in various, and plentiful, pigments. Many of the painted replicas are displayed next to their originals creating an overwhelming contrast to preconceived notions of how ancient Greece looked. Museum Director Nikolaos Kaltsas said sculpture began in the late 7th century BC and painting along with it, and phased out in the Greco-Roman period. Painting of sculptures and monuments was also very prominent in Ancient Egypt, but Kaltsas said the initiative of the ancient Greek artists was not drawn from their Egyptian neighbours but from the colours of nature. The pigments were made from stones and plants creating the colours of red, blue, green and yellow. Kaltsas said there were also probably different tones, either brighter or dimmer. "It was a happy society, a colourful society, they saw all these colours in nature and it affected them," said Kaltsas. The visual comparison has caused strong reactions from visitors however, including shock and disappointment. "Some like it, because they didn't know and it was a discovery. Some are disappointed. Some have said to me personally you have completely ruined the image we had of antiquity. But unfortunately or fortunately, this was reality." he said. "I find them beautiful the way they are now, but I was very disappointed seeing all these painted things and the way they probably were, but I don't like them at all." said Greek resident Eliza Masselou, who called them tacky. To the Greeks however the painting was considered a work of art with artists gaining recognition for the sculptures they painted. The exhibition is based on research made by the University of Munich in the study of polychromy of ancient sculpture. Some replicas of the exhibition are from sculptures of the temple of Aphaia on the island of Aegina, whose originals are located in the Gliptothek in Munich, and where the exhibition first appeared in 2004. Evidence that ancient sculpture was painted became prominent with early 19th century archaeological digs when statues were unearthed with pigments still visible to the naked eye, and further research was later conducted through ultraviolet photography and chemical analysis.