Trust us — this cathedral will be better with a coating of olive oil

We’re always hearing how great olive oil is. Use it for cooking, rub it on your skin, splash it on your scalp as a disgusting DIY hair treatment. Now apparently olive oil is also great for Gothic cathedrals, particularly York Minster, an 800-year-old cathedral threatened by acid rain. Its limestone also leeches out pollutants absorbed during the Industrial revolution, which just makes things worse. However, olive oil’s oleic acid helps prevent this breakage and also repels water. Nifty, huh? Preliminary tests on the stone have been a huge success, and soon it might be treated top-to-bottom with the stuff. So if you go sight-see in North England and notice a stunning cathedral that smells weirdly tasty and boasts a shiny sheen, you’ll know why. [Source]

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