diff --git a/ui/curses.c b/ui/curses.c
index 84003f56a3..3a1b71451c 100644
--- a/ui/curses.c
+++ b/ui/curses.c
@@ -77,12 +77,14 @@ static void curses_update(DisplayChangeListener *dcl,
         for (x = 0; x < width; x++) {
             chtype ch = line[x] & A_CHARTEXT;
             chtype at = line[x] & A_ATTRIBUTES;
+            short color_pair = PAIR_NUMBER(line[x]);
+
             ret = getcchar(&vga_to_curses[ch], wch, &attrs, &colors, NULL);
             if (ret == ERR || wch[0] == 0) {
                 wch[0] = ch;
                 wch[1] = 0;
             }
-            setcchar(&curses_line[x], wch, at, 0, NULL);
+            setcchar(&curses_line[x], wch, at, color_pair, NULL);
         }
         mvwadd_wchnstr(screenpad, y, 0, curses_line, width);
     }