A Spanish woman who became famous for botching the restoration of frescoes has died

The Spanish parishioner who made headlines around the world for her botched restoration of a prized fresco of Jesus Christ has died at the age of 94.

Cecilia Giménez, an elderly woman from Borja, northeastern Spain, became famous 13 years ago after attempting to restore the century-old painting titled Ecce Homo that was kept in her local church.

Giménez’s restoration went viral and earned the nickname “Monkey Christ”because of Christ’s head which resembles a hairy monkey.

The death of the 94-year-old was confirmed by Borja’s major, Eduardo Arilla, in a statement. Facebook postin which he recognizes her as a “great lover of painting from a very young age”.

Arilla paid tribute to Giménez’s “famous restoration of Ecce Homo” in August 2012, which “due to the poor state of conservation it presented, Cecilia, with the best intentions, decided to repaint the work.”

The Ecce Homo (“Here is the man” in Latin) by the 19th century painter Elias Garcia Martinez has been held for more than 100 years in the church of the Sanctuary of Mercy, near Zaragoza.

In 2012, Giménez, then 81, told BBC News that church members had “always fixed everything here” and that she had permission from the local priest to do so.

Giménez said that at the time, anyone entering the church would have seen that she was painting over the original.

The impact of the restoration led to the “Christ the Monkey” meme and saw the once quiet town of Borja quickly become a tourist destination.

The city, which previously welcomed only 5,000 visitors per year, has received more than 40,000 tourists by 2013and raised more than €50,000 for charity at the time.

Today, authorities say between 15,000 and 20,000 tourists visit Borja each year to see the famous portrait, now hidden behind protective glass.

After recovering from the backlash, with support from local residents and others around the world, Giménez then held an art exhibition with 28 of her own paintings.

She was praised by Major de Borja for her generosity and years of dedication to the church.

“Rest in peace Cecilia, we will always remember you,” Arilla wrote on Facebook.