This combo pictures shows a sculpture before (right) and after being restored (left) on the exterior of an ornate office building in the city of Palencia, Spain, Wednesday, Nov. 11, 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. (AP Photo/Alberto Calleja -left image- & Agencia ICAL -right image-)
By Ciarán Giles
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 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 told The Associated Press 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.
Now, Spanish media are showing images of people stopping to stare up at the building and to take photos.
The poorly done restoration drew immediate comparisons with an “Ecce Homo” fresco in the northern Spain town of Borja. A local amateur artist decided the circa 1930 depiction of Christ at the Sanctuary of Mercy church needed restoration, but the face she produced in 2012 immediately drew comparisons to a monkey.
View of the deteriorated version of 'Ecce Homo' mural by 19th-century painter Elias Garcia Martinez, at the Borja Church in Zaragoza, Spain, Wednesday, March 16, 2016. (AP Photo/Javier Vinuela)
However, her work turned into a Borja tourist attraction. It remains to be seen if the Palencia job will have the same effect.
A Palencia City Hall spokesman who declined to offer a name following internal procedure was unable to say when the work was carried out or by whom but said the restoration would most likely be investigated by regional authorities.
Country music star Dolly Parton just set three new Guinness World Records, including longest span of No. 1 hits on US Top Country Albums chart for a female artist, most top 10 entries on the US Top Country Albums chart for a female artist, and most studio albums released by a female country singer.
“That '70s Show” star Danny Masterson was led out in handcuffs from a Los Angeles courtroom Wednesday and could get 30 years to life in prison after a jury found him guilty on two of three counts of rape at his second trial, in which the Church of Scientology played a central role.
The trial of the man charged in the deadliest antisemitic attack in U.S. history opened Tuesday with his own lawyer acknowledging that he planned and carried out the 2018 massacre at a Pittsburgh synagogue and made hateful statements about Jewish people.
In celebration of Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, Anne del Castillo, commissioner of the NYC Mayor's Office of Media and Entertainment (MOME), joined Cheddar News to discuss her role in helping bring back the city's entertainment industry after the pandemic.
