Ecce Homo is a fresco created by Elías García Martínez on the wall of a church in Borja, Spain in the 1930s. In 2012, a combination of age and humidity caused the painting to begin to deteriorate. This inspired Cecilia Giménez Zueco to use her artistic talent to repair Ecco Homo.
But Zueco’s work was like a mouse repairing a pumpkin, so much so that the face of Jesus in the original painting now looks like an ape. When a picture of the painting was published online, it quickly earned the nickname Ecco Mono, with mono being Spanish for monkey.
Yesterday, Cecilia Giménez Zueco died at the age of 94. After her efforts to repair the painting went viral worldwide and became a meme, Zueco quickly said that public criticism of her was unfair because the painting was not fully repaired.
Initially, the church administration wanted to restore the original Ecco Homo. But when many visitors came to Borja to see it for themselves, this decision was abandoned. To this day, the “repaired” painting can still be seen by the public.
Visitors to the church are charged a fee to view the church and the proceeds, which amount to thousands of Euros, are used to repair the church and to fund care for the elderly in the town of Borja. The town, which used to receive 5,000 visitors a year, suddenly received 20,000 visitors in 2013 thanks to the work of Cecilia Giménez Zueco.
