Spanish woman famous for failed mural restoration dies

the spanish parishioner who made headlines around the world for her botched recovery A precious mural of Jesus Christ has died at the age of 94.

Cecilia Giménez, an elderly woman from Borja in northeastern Spain, became famous 13 years ago for trying to restore a century-old painting called “Ecce Homo” that was preserved in a local church.

Jimenez’s restoration work became widely known and won him Nicknamed “Monkey Christ”because the head of Christ resembles a hairy monkey.

Borja’s Major Eduardo Arilla confirmed the 94-year-old’s death in a statement. Facebook postin which he admitted that she was “a person who has loved painting since she was a child.”

In August 2012, Arrela paid homage to Jimenez’s “famous restoration of Ecce Homo,” which “due to its poor state of conservation, Cecilia decided to repaint out of goodwill.”

“Ecce Homo” (Latin for “Look at the Man”) by the 19th-century painter Elias Garcia Martinez has been preserved in the Church of Mercy near Zaragoza for more than 100 years.

In 2012, Jimenez, then 81, told BBC News that church members were “always fixing everything here” and that she had permission from the local pastor to do so.

Jimenez said anyone entering the church at the time would have seen her painting on the original.

The impact of the restoration spawned the “Monkey Christ” meme, and the once-quiet town of Borja quickly became a tourist destination.

The town previously received only 5,000 visitors a year but now welcomes more than 40,000 visitors by 2013raising more than €50,000 for charity at the time.

Today, officials say 15,000 to 20,000 tourists come to Borja each year to see the famous portrait, which is now hidden behind a glass shield.

After recovering from the backlash, and with the support of local residents and others around the world, Jimenez went on to hold an art exhibition featuring 28 of her own paintings.

She was praised professionally by Borja for her generosity and years of devotion to the church.

“RIP Cecilia, you will always be remembered,” Ariela wrote on Facebook.