Elias Garcia Martinez painted “Ecce Homo” (Behold the Man) on the wall of a church near Zaragoza, Spain, over 100 years ago. The depiction of Christ has been a source of pride and inspiration for the Spanish town — that is, until town resident Cecilia Gomez, who is in her 80s, sought out to restore the damaged fresco.
Of the unfortunate restoration, BBC correspondent Christian Fraser said, “The once-dignified portrait now resembles a crayon sketch of a very hairy monkey in an ill-fitting tunic.” (Punsters have taken to calling it “Ecce Mono” — Behold the Monkey.)
But fear not, for the city has a plan. Juan Josi Ojeda, the city’s culture council member, told BBC, “If we can’t fix it, we will probably cover the wall with a photo of the painting.”
Gomez claims the church’s priest gave her permission and told the BBC, “Everybody who came into the church could see I was painting.”
