A few years ago, my wife and I were vacationing in Rome and we went to the Vatican just to go there and see it. When we went into Saint Peters Cathedral, we noticed people going over to a basin mounted about 5-1/2 feet up on the wall, reaching up and dipping their hand into, and crossing themselves. Some were even putting it on their baby's foreheads. My wife went over so I could take a photo of her beside it and after I took it, she looked into the basin and a look of horror came over her face. So I went over a looked in and it was filthy. There was a visible layer of scum on it from where people with hand creams and lotions had been dipping there hands into it. There was a slight ring of crud around the basin at water level. It did not look healthy at all. This is what I thought of as soon as I saw the title of this thread.
I'm guessing they didn't change it a lot.
I'm guessing you're right. But as many people that dip their dirty hands in it on a daily basis, it probably doesn't take too long to get that dirty, either.
It takes a bit to get a ring such as you described, tho.
