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The elderly woman from Spain who achieved global fame for her infamous repair job on a cherished Jesus Christ fresco has passed away at the age 94.

The woman, from the town of Borja in northern Spain, rose to prominence 13 years ago after she undertook to restore a 100-year-old painting titled Ecce Homo housed within her parish church.

Giménez's handiwork quickly went viral and earned the moniker "Monkey Christ", largely due to the altered depiction of Christ's head looking somewhat like a furry primate.

Local Announcement and Tribute

The 94-year-old's passing was announced by Borja's mayor, Eduardo Arilla, in a social media post, where he described her as a "passionate lover of painting from a very early age".

"Descansa en paz Cecilia, your memory will live on with us," Arilla wrote.

Arilla further referenced Giménez's "famous restoration of Ecce Homo" in August 2012, which "due to the poor state of conservation it presented, Cecilia, with the best intentions, decided to repaint the work over".

The Artwork's History and the Now-Infamous Intervention

The Ecce Homo ("Behold the Man" in Latin) by 19th century painter Elias Garcia Martinez had resided for over a hundred years in the Santuario de la Misericordia near Zaragoza.

In 2012, Giménez, then 81, explained that parishioners had "always repaired everything here", and that she had been given the go-ahead from the parish priest to do the work.

She added at the time that anyone who came into the church would have observed she was applying paint to the original image.

An Unexpected Economic Lifeline

The impact of the repaint job led to the creation of the "Ecce Mono" meme and transformed the once quiet town of Borja quickly become a major tourist destination.

The town, which had previously welcomed just 5,000 tourists per year, received more than 40,000 tourists by 2013, and managed to raise over €50,000 for charity from the interest.

Currently, local authorities estimate that between 15,000 and 20,000 tourists visit Borja each year to see the notorious painting, which is now displayed behind a pane of glass.

Legacy and Local Admiration

After recovering from the wave of criticism, with support from local residents and well-wishers around the world, Giménez later stage an exhibition of her paintings showcasing 28 of her own paintings.

She was praised by Borja's mayor for her generosity and decades of faithful service to the parish.

Ultimately, what began as a sincere but flawed art repair forged an unlikely piece of pop culture and brought remarkable tourist revenue to a humble Spanish town.