{"id":378964,"date":"2025-12-31T02:16:10","date_gmt":"2025-12-31T02:16:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/378964\/"},"modified":"2025-12-31T02:16:10","modified_gmt":"2025-12-31T02:16:10","slug":"cecilia-gimenez-spanish-woman-known-for-botched-fresco-restoration-dies-at-age-94","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/378964\/","title":{"rendered":"Cecilia Gim\u00e9nez, Spanish woman known for botched fresco restoration, dies at age 94"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cecilia Gim\u00e9nez, the Spanish woman whose botched restoration<\/a> of a century-old painting of Jesus Christ captured global headlines<\/a> more than a decade ago, has died. She was 94.<\/p>\n

Officials in Borja, northeastern Spain, confirmed Gim\u00e9nez’s death on Facebook<\/a>. Mayor Eduardo Arilla told a local newspaper she died in a nursing home, The New York Times reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The foundation that manages the church in Borja where the “Ecce Homo” fresco is displayed\u00a0said<\/a> she was a great lover of painting from a young age. The foundation called her “one of the most famous figures of 2012” and noted that she had, “with the best intentions, decided to repaint” the fresco at the Sanctuary of Mercy Church because of its poor condition.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The deteriorated version of the “Ecce Homo” mural by 19th century painter Elias Garcia Martinez, center, is seen next to a copy of the original, left, in Borja, Spain, March 16, 2016.<\/p>\n

AP Photo\/Javier Vinuela<\/p>\n

Gim\u00e9nez’s attempt left Christ’s face cartoonish and unrecognizable, sparking a flood of online reactions, memes, and parodies featuring famous figures such as Michael Jackson and Homer Simpson.<\/p>\n

Her restoration added what appeared to be a mane to the figure of Christ, leading the small painting by local artist Elias Garcia Martinez, created in the 1910s, to be nicknamed the “Monkey Christ.”<\/p>\n

At the time, Gim\u00e9nez acknowledged the damage, but she told a state-run broadcaster that the parish priest authorized the restoration.<\/p>\n

“The priest knew! He did! How could we do something like that without permission? He knew,” Gim\u00e9nez said. “Everybody who came into the church could see me as I was painting. I didn’t do anything secretly.”<\/p>\n

\"Cecilia<\/p>\n

Cecilia Gim\u00e9nez, left, who attempted to restore a version of the “Ecce Homo” mural by 19th century painter Elias Garcia Martinez, at the opening of an information center about the fresco Borja, Spain, March 16, 2016.<\/p>\n

AP Photo\/Javier Vinuela<\/p>\n

The controversy quickly turned Borja into a tourist destination<\/a>, with about 57,000 visitors coming to see the previously little-known church the following year.<\/p>\n

When the controversy subsided, supporters helped Gim\u00e9nez put on an art exhibition featuring 28 of her own paintings, CBS News partner BBC News\u00a0reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Cecilia Gim\u00e9nez, the Spanish woman whose botched restoration of a century-old painting of Jesus Christ captured global headlines…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":378965,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[1029,228,226,227,8609,229,88,13441,3662],"class_list":{"0":"post-378964","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-art","9":"tag-arts","10":"tag-arts-and-design","11":"tag-artsanddesign","12":"tag-death","13":"tag-design","14":"tag-entertainment","15":"tag-obituary","16":"tag-spain"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/378964","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=378964"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/378964\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/378965"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=378964"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=378964"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=378964"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}