Ah, you didn't visit Edinburgh's New Town, the residential area of which starts just behind Princes Street (i.e., a couple minutes' walk from the Scott Monument). That is too bad, as it is fabulous, with the Gallery of Modern Art, Water of Leith (a small river walk), Dean Village, the village of Stockbridge and the Royal Botanic Garden plus more within easy walking distance along the Water of Leith. Also, though the Scott Monument was repaired some years ago, the matter of cleaning is a problem for two basic reasons. First, there is oil within the stone that comes to the surface, where it collects dirt from the air (Edinburgh air is MUCH cleaner since coal fires were banned), so the stone is naturally 'dirty'. Second, any attempt to clean the stone would require high-pressure spraying. Because sandstone is porous and soft, the pressure of the water and effects of the detergent would erode the stone. This would be a serious problem for the many decorative bits. There was a time when the sandstone buildings in the city centre were all black. But in the 1980s and early 90s many were spraywashed to reveal their naturally golden sandy colour.
Scotland yeah !!!
Edinburgh - Scotland 🏴
Ah, you didn't visit Edinburgh's New Town, the residential area of which starts just behind Princes Street (i.e., a couple minutes' walk from the Scott Monument). That is too bad, as it is fabulous, with the Gallery of Modern Art, Water of Leith (a small river walk), Dean Village, the village of Stockbridge and the Royal Botanic Garden plus more within easy walking distance along the Water of Leith.
Also, though the Scott Monument was repaired some years ago, the matter of cleaning is a problem for two basic reasons. First, there is oil within the stone that comes to the surface, where it collects dirt from the air (Edinburgh air is MUCH cleaner since coal fires were banned), so the stone is naturally 'dirty'. Second, any attempt to clean the stone would require high-pressure spraying. Because sandstone is porous and soft, the pressure of the water and effects of the detergent would erode the stone. This would be a serious problem for the many decorative bits.
There was a time when the sandstone buildings in the city centre were all black. But in the 1980s and early 90s many were spraywashed to reveal their naturally golden sandy colour.
Thanks for sharing this piece of information! I guess we will need to head back to Edinburgh again 😊