After a Spanish woman gained worldwide media notoriety for botching a 20th century painting of Jesus Christ on a Spanish churches façade, she claimed to only be trying to restore it. Now, after the story and the subsequent before and after image went viral, the site has become a tourist attraction.
80 year old Cecilia Gimenez, is now asking for royalty fees from the church owners as they are charging visitors.
Gimenez claims to have tried to restore the painting "Ecce Homo" because no one else was taking initiative to do so. At first police believed it to be vandalism and Gimenez said she was confused by the uproar because she had worked on the wall during the day with the approval of local clergy. According to the New York Times she said, "The priest knew it. I've never tried to do anything hidden."
Ars Technica reported that the church's owners, the Santi Spiritus Hospital Foundation made $2,600 in four days from visitors who wanted to see the botched restoration project at the hands of Gimenez.
The story blew up on the Internet making Gimenez and her badly done artwork in Borja, Spain an Internet sensation and the hub of spoofs and jokes.
According to El Correo, Gimenez suffered anxiety attacks after the event. Now however, she is working with lawyers to hopefully get a margin of profits from the visitors.
Town officials had originally planned to undo the work with the help of professional restorators but nearly 18,000 people have signed an online petition to preserve painting as it is now.
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