JESUS and Virgin Mary statues have been left looking like cartoon characters after a restoration job went wrong.
The religious shrine in Poland faced ridicule after a failed restoration project resulted in the Virgin Mary and Jesus Christ appearing with unrealistic yellow faces resembling cartoon characters.
The Virgin Mary has been given yellow skin and giant white eyes, making her look like a poorly-drawn character from the Simpsons.
Jesus has also been painted with the same alarming shade of yellow, and sports grey underpants.
The anonymous author of the restoration also covered up an original German inscription on the shrine.
They replaced it with ‘VII 2024, JC 2’ scribbled in what looks like a black marker pen.
The renovation was slammed by seething social media users who described it as “barbaric”.
One user said: “The road to hell is paved with good intentions.”
One individual even drew a comparison between the renovated figures and characters from The Simpsons, humorously stating that the painter responsible would have been better suited for a job on the animated show. They highlighted how amateurish some ‘restoration painters’ can be.
There was a particular instance mentioned where a photograph of a pristine statue of Jesus was compared to its current state after repainting. The observation pointed out a lack of attention to detail, such as ignoring the different colors of the robe, resulting in an overall sloppy appearance.
“On top of that, there are those overly bright or excessively pastel colours… It’s better not to touch it than to ruin it.”
The shrine is located near the village of Studzionka, in Poland and dates back to 1820.
The shrine is listed as a registered monument.
According to Polish authorities, no changes can be made to the religious figures without the approval of a regional conservator.
The authorities added that no such permission had been granted and have launched an investigation to find out who was behind the botched restoration.
Miroslaw Rymer, a spokesman for the Silesian Conservator of Monuments, said: “We will now carry out an inspection to determine how much damage has been done to the monument.”
The inscription suggests that the restoration occurred last year, but it has only now been discovered after a member of the public shared fresh images of the shrine.
Cecilia Giménez’s botched renovation of a fresco in her small Spanish town of Borja became an international sensation in 2012
The 1930 fresco by Elías García Martínez, titled Ecce Homo, was hilariously ruined by the 82-year-old amateur Giménez, after she left Jesus with a blurred chimp-like appearance.
Local cops initially suspected vandalism before discovering Giménez had undertaken the restoration job in good faith.
The fresco fiasco quickly went viral and people began jokingly referring to the artwork as Ecce Mono which means “Behold the Monkey”.
Although the priest initially wanted to cover the painting up, tourists flocked to the Sanctuary of Mercy church in Borja to see it and the fresco now even has its own visitor centre.
The ‘Monkey Christ’
By Lydia Doye
- The “Monkey Christ” became as international sensation after a botched restoration left Jesus looking like a chimp.
- Cecilia Giménez, 82, attempted to restore a fresco in Borja, Spain in 2012.
- Giménez ruined the 1930 fresco by Elías García Martínez, Ecce Homo, giving Jesus a blurred chimp-like appearance.
- Giménez was initially suspected of vandalism but it was agreed that the amateur artist had undertaken the job in good faith.
- The restored fresco went viral.
- Many referred to it as Ecce Mono, meaning “Behold the Monkey”.
- The priest initially wanted to cover the painting up, but tourists flocked to see it.
- The fresco is in the Sanctuary of Mercy church in Borja and even has its own visitor centre.
