Remember ‘monkey Jesus’? Well, Spain’s amateur restorers have been at it again

What was once the bust of a smiling woman on the exterior of an ornate office building in the city of Palencia now looks more like a cartoon character

The poorly done restoration drew immediate comparisons with a Spanish ‘Ecce Homo’ fresco that was ‘restored’ to look like a monkey in 2012

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The badly restored sculpture on the exterior of an ornate office building in the city of Palencia, Spain, pictured on Wednesday. Photo: AP

Published: 9:32pm, 12 Nov 2020Updated: 9:37pm, 12 Nov 2020

Restoration work on a sculpture in northern Spain has resurrected memories of a restored Christ fresco in another Spanish city eight years ago that drew ridicule as well as tourists.

The latest incident concerns a relief sculpture on the exterior of an ornate office building in the city of Palencia. What was once the bust of a smiling woman now looks more like the head of a cartoon character.

The sculpture as it appeared before it was ‘restored’. Photo: AP

The disfigurement was bought to light by a local artist who lives near the office building and was tipped off by a florist on his street. Antonio Capel posted before and after photographs on his Facebook page, triggering a flurry of social media reaction and attention from journalists.

“I was surprised. How could they have done this?” Capel said on Wednesday. “This must be at least 10-years-old, and we’re only finding out now.”

He said the 20th-century building belongs to a bank but tenants decided to fix the façade some years ago.