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The elderly woman from Spain who made international headlines for her infamous restoration attempt on a cherished Jesus Christ fresco has died at the age 94.

Cecilia Giménez, from the town of Borja in northeast Spain, became a global sensation 13 years ago after she undertook to restore a 100-year-old fresco known as Ecce Homo housed within her local church.

Giménez's restoration effort spread across the internet and was dubbed "Monkey Christ", largely due to the altered depiction of Christ's head looking somewhat like a hairy monkey.

Official Announcement and Homage

The nonagenarian's passing was announced by Borja's mayor, Eduardo Arilla, in a social media post, where he acknowledged her as a "passionate enthusiast of painting from a very early age".

"Descansa en paz Cecilia, your memory will live on with us," the mayor posted.

Arilla also paid tribute to Giménez's "famous restoration of Ecce Homo" in August 2012, which "due to the deteriorated condition it was in, Cecilia, acting in good faith, chose to apply new paint over the original".

The Artwork's History and the Now-Infamous Act

The Ecce Homo ("Behold the Man" in Latin) painted by nineteenth-century artist Elias Garcia Martinez had resided for over a hundred years in the Sanctuary of Mercy Church near Zaragoza.

At the time, Giménez, then 81, explained that parishioners had "traditionally fixed everything here", and that she had been given the go-ahead from the parish priest to do the work.

She also noted that anyone who came into the church would have observed she was applying paint to the existing image.

An Unexpected Economic Lifeline

The impact of the restoration spawned the "Monkey Christ" meme and saw the previously sleepy town of Borja quickly become a significant tourist destination.

The town, which had previously welcomed just five thousand visitors per year, received over 40,000 tourists by 2013, and generated over €50,000 for charity from the interest.

Today, officials say that between 15,000 and 20,000 tourists visit Borja every year to see the notorious painting, which is now protected by a protective shield of glass.

Legacy and Local Support

After recovering from the initial backlash, with support from local residents and others around the world, Giménez went on to stage an exhibition of her paintings featuring twenty-eight of her personal paintings.

She was praised by the mayor for her generosity and decades of dedication to the parish.

Ultimately, what began as a well-intentioned but flawed art repair forged an unlikely cultural icon and brought unprecedented tourist revenue to a humble Spanish town.