Cecilia Giménez, the woman who restored the 'Ecce Homo' at the Borja sanctuary, has died.

BarcelonaCecilia Giménez, the woman who became famous in 2012 for the failed restoration of theEcce Homo Giménez, from the sanctuary of Borja (Zaragoza), died this Monday at the age of 94, as confirmed to Cadena SER by the town's mayor, Eduardo Arilla. Giménez had been living in a nursing home for years, accompanied by her son, who has cerebral palsy.

In 2012, Giménez, a painting enthusiast who had done some small jobs in religious centers, wanted to restore the painting of theEcce Homo from the church of Borja, a work by Elías García Martínez. His lack of technical knowledge caused the restoration to be a failure: he began restoring the tunic of Christ, but when it came time to work on the face of the figure, he was unable to reproduce the original features. The result was a Ecce Homo deformed, which went viral worldwide, and appeared in media outlets such as the BBC, Le Monde either The Independent. He also became the target of jokes from presenters of late shows Americans like Jimmy Fallon. On Twitter, photomontages about theEcce Homo The distorted faces of popular figures such as Kiko Rivera (Isabel Pantoja's son), José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, Falete, the Duchess of Alba, Homer Simpson, Belén Esteban, Mr. Bean, Leo Messi, Mariano Rajoy, and Mario Vaquerizo, among many others, were superimposed. Giménez apologized on several occasions for his mistake in attempting to restore theEcce Homo.

Despite the controversy generated by the restoration, theEcce Homo Cecilia Giménez's work became a pop icon and one of the main attractions of the Borja sanctuary, which benefited financially from the many visitors who came to the town to see the performance live. The money raised from ticket sales goes entirely to the Sancti Spiritus Hospital and Sanctuary of Mercy Foundation to improve its facilities and help the elderly residents without resources at the nursing home where Giménez lived.

A demonstration of the pop icon status ofEcce Homo It is her appearance in fiction such as comedy Paquita Salas, by Javier Ambrossi and Javi Calvo, who made the protagonist of their comedy experience a vital revelation while contemplating the restoration of Giménez.