🔗 Share this article

The Spanish parishioner who made international headlines for her poorly executed repair job on a valuable Jesus Christ fresco has died at the age 94.

The woman, a resident of the town of Borja in northern Spain, rose to prominence thirteen years ago after she attempted to repaint a 100-year-old fresco titled Ecce Homo housed within her local church.

Giménez's restoration effort spread across the internet and was dubbed "Monkey Christ", largely due to the altered depiction of Christ's head bearing a resemblance to a furry primate.

Official Announcement and Homage

The 94-year-old's death was announced by Borja's mayor, Eduardo Arilla, via an online statement, where he acknowledged her as a "great lover of painting from a very early age".

"Descansa en paz Cecilia, your memory will live on with us," Arilla wrote.

Arilla also paid tribute to Giménez's "now-legendary restoration of Ecce Homo" in August 2012, which "due to the poor state of conservation it was in, Cecilia, acting in good faith, chose to apply new paint over the original".

The Artwork's History and the Now-Infamous Intervention

The Ecce Homo ("This is the Man" in Latin) painted by nineteenth-century artist Elias Garcia Martinez had resided for more than a hundred years in the Santuario de la Misericordia near Zaragoza.

At the time, Giménez, then 81, explained that church members had "traditionally fixed everything here", and that she had received permission from the parish priest to proceed.

She also noted that anybody who came into the church would have seen she was painting over the original image.

An Unexpected Economic Lifeline

The aftermath of the repaint job led to the creation of the "Monkey Christ" internet phenomenon and transformed the previously sleepy town of Borja rapidly turn into a major tourist destination.

The town, which had in the past seen only 5,000 tourists per year, attracted more than 40,000 tourists by 2013, and managed to raise over €50,000 for charity from the attention.

Today, officials estimate that between 15,000 and 20,000 tourists visit Borja each year to view the famous portrait, which is now protected by a pane of glass.

Legacy and Local Support

Following the initial backlash, with support from the townspeople and well-wishers globally, Giménez went on to stage an art exhibition showcasing twenty-eight of her personal paintings.

She was praised by Borja's mayor for her kind-hearted nature and decades of faithful service to the parish.

Ultimately, what began as a well-intentioned but unsuccessful art repair created an unlikely piece of pop culture and brought unprecedented tourist revenue to a small Spanish town.