🔗 Share this article Spanish Parishioner Who Found Fame for Mishandling a Prized Fresco Restoration Has Died at the Age of 94 Cecilia Giménez's restoration of the century-old artwork. The Spanish parishioner who made international headlines for her infamous restoration attempt on a cherished religious painting has died at the age 94. The woman, a resident of the town of Borja in northeast Spain, became a global sensation 13 years ago after she undertook to restore a 100-year-old painting known as Ecce Homo housed within her parish church. Giménez's handiwork spread across the internet and earned the moniker "Monkey Christ", largely due to the altered depiction of Christ's head bearing a resemblance to a hairy monkey. Official Confirmation and Homage The 94-year-old's death was announced by Borja's mayor, Eduardo Arilla, in a social media post, where he described her as a "passionate enthusiast of painting from a young age". "Descansa en paz Cecilia, we will always remember you," Arilla wrote. Arilla also paid tribute to Giménez's "famous restoration of Ecce Homo" in August 2012, which "because of the poor state of conservation it presented, Cecilia, with the best intentions, chose to repaint the work over". The Artwork's History and the Fateful Intervention The Ecce Homo ("Behold the Man" in Latin) by nineteenth-century artist Elias Garcia Martinez had been held for over a hundred years in the Santuario de la Misericordia near Zaragoza. In 2012, Giménez, then 81, explained that parishioners had "traditionally fixed everything here", and that she had received permission from the parish priest to do the work. She also noted that anybody who entered the Church would have observed she was applying paint to the original image. An Unexpected Economic Lifeline The impact of the repaint job led to the creation of the "Monkey Christ" meme and transformed the previously sleepy town of Borja quickly become a significant tourist destination. The town, which had in the past welcomed just 5,000 tourists per year, attracted more than 40,000 tourists by 2013, and managed to raise more than €50,000 for charity from the interest. Today, local authorities say that between 15,000 and 20,000 tourists travel to Borja every year to see the famous portrait, which is now protected by a protective shield of glass. Legacy and Local Support After recovering from the initial backlash, backed by local residents and well-wishers globally, Giménez went on to hold an exhibition of her paintings featuring 28 of her own works. She was commended by the mayor for her kind-hearted nature and years of dedication to the church. Ultimately, what began as a well-intentioned but unsuccessful act of restoration created an unlikely piece of pop culture and provided unprecedented tourist revenue to a small Spanish town.