
Cecilia Giménez, whose botched attempt to restore a mural of Jesus became an internet phenomenon, has died at the age of 94. In 2012, Giménez, a then 81-year-old amateur artist, took it upon herself to touch up “Ecce Homo,” a 19th-century painting of Jesus by Elías García Martínez that hung in Santuario de Misericordia church in the small town of Borja, Spain. She later claimed the work was unfinished, and she intended to clean up the painting after taking a two-week break. She never got the chance, as the restoration sparked memes worldwide. Though initially seen as a fiasco, Giménez’s “Ecce Homo” restoration ultimately became a widely celebrated tourist attraction. The church began charging a €3.50 entry fee to onlookers flocking to see the botched Jesus in person, and ultimately donated over €50,000 to local charities. Giménez sought a share of the financial windfall to donate to muscular atrophy charities because her son suffers from the condition. In 2022, Borja celebrated the restoration’s 10th anniversary with a gala. At the time, Giménez’s niece, Marisa Ibáñez, told the New York Post that Giménez, whose mind “began to fail her,” no longer remembered the controversy surrounding her painting but felt the love it generated.



















