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Cecilia Giménez, the Spanish pistillate whose botched restoration of a century-old coating of Jesus Christ captured planetary headlines much than a decennary ago, has died. She was 94.
Officials successful Borja, northeastern Spain, confirmed Giménez's decease on Facebook. Mayor Eduardo Arilla told a section paper she died successful a nursing home, The New York Times reported.
The instauration that manages the religion successful Borja wherever the "Ecce Homo" fresco is displayed said she was a large person of coating from a young age. The instauration called her "one of the astir celebrated figures of 2012" and noted that she had, "with the champion intentions, decided to repaint" the fresco astatine the Sanctuary of Mercy Church due to the fact that of its mediocre condition.
The deteriorated mentation of the "Ecce Homo" mural by 19th period creator Elias Garcia Martinez, center, is seen adjacent to a transcript of the original, left, successful Borja, Spain, March 16, 2016.
AP Photo/Javier Vinuela
Giménez's effort near Christ's look cartoonish and unrecognizable, sparking a flood of online reactions, memes, and parodies featuring celebrated figures specified arsenic Michael Jackson and Homer Simpson.
Her restoration added what appeared to beryllium a mane to the fig of Christ, starring the tiny coating by section creator Elias Garcia Martinez, created successful the 1910s, to beryllium nicknamed the "Monkey Christ."
At the time, Giménez acknowledged the damage, but she told a state-run broadcaster that the parish clergyman authorized the restoration.
"The clergyman knew! He did! How could we bash thing similar that without permission? He knew," Giménez said. "Everybody who came into the religion could spot maine arsenic I was painting. I didn't bash thing secretly."
Cecilia Giménez, left, who attempted to reconstruct a mentation of the "Ecce Homo" mural by 19th period creator Elias Garcia Martinez, astatine the opening of an accusation halfway astir the fresco Borja, Spain, March 16, 2016.
AP Photo/Javier Vinuela
The contention rapidly turned Borja into a tourist destination, with astir 57,000 visitors coming to spot the antecedently little-known religion the pursuing year.
When the contention subsided, supporters helped Giménez enactment connected an creation accumulation featuring 28 of her ain paintings, CBS News spouse BBC News reported.
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