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The Spanish parishioner who achieved global fame for her infamous restoration attempt on a cherished religious painting has died at the age of 94.

The woman, a resident of the town of Borja in northern Spain, became a global sensation thirteen years ago after she attempted to restore a 100-year-old fresco titled Ecce Homo located in her local church.

Giménez's restoration effort spread across the internet and earned the moniker "Monkey Christ", because the altered depiction of Christ's head looking somewhat like a hairy monkey.

Local Announcement and Homage

The 94-year-old's death was confirmed 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".

"Rest in peace Cecilia, your memory will live on with us," the mayor posted.

Arilla also paid tribute to Giménez's "now-legendary restoration of Ecce Homo" in the summer of 2012, which "because of the poor state of conservation it presented, Cecilia, acting in good faith, decided to apply new paint over the original".

The Artwork's Background and the Fateful Intervention

The Ecce Homo ("Behold the Man" in Latin) by nineteenth-century painter Elias Garcia Martinez had resided for more than a century in the Sanctuary of Mercy Church near Zaragoza.

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

She added at the time that anyone who entered the church would have seen she was applying paint to the original artwork.

A Surprising Tourist Boom

The aftermath of the restoration led to the creation of the "Ecce Mono" meme and transformed the once quiet town of Borja rapidly turn into a major visitor attraction.

The town, which had in the past welcomed just five thousand tourists per year, attracted more than 40,000 tourists by 2013, and managed to raise over €50,000 for charity from the attention.

Currently, officials estimate that somewhere around 15,000 and 20,000 tourists visit Borja each year to view the famous portrait, which is now protected by a pane of glass.

Legacy and Community Support

Following the initial backlash, with support from the townspeople and others globally, Giménez went on to hold an art exhibition showcasing twenty-eight of her own paintings.

She was praised by the mayor for her kind-hearted nature and years of faithful service to the church.

In the end, what began as a sincere but unsuccessful act of restoration forged an unlikely cultural icon and provided unprecedented attention and resources to a small Spanish town.