Church wardens resign over 'botched' restoration of Virgin Mary statue

Before (left) and after the renovation,which worshippers say left the statue with a completely different facial expression (Picture: TikTok)

Caretakers at a church in Spain have resigned over a deeply unpopular restoration of a statue of the Virgin Mary.

The Virgin of La Macarena is a beloved Catholic effigy found in the Basilica de Santa María de la Esperanza Macarena in Seville,Spain.

‘Monkey Christ’,an amateur restoration job of a century-old fresco of Jesus in a church in Spain in 2012,was immortalised as a meme for years to come.

While this restoration may not be quite as starkly awful as ‘Monkey Christ’,worshippers have complained that the Virgin Mary’s eyelashes have been lengthened,her skin tone has changed,and key details on her dress and jewellery are completely different.

Crowds gathered outside the Basilica on Monday,singing hymns and calling for the resignation of those involved in the restoration.

One worshipper told Spanish newspaper El Pais: ‘Her facial expression has completely changed. It pains me deeply to say it,but she looks like a poor copy of the original.’

Now the steward and prior of Our Lady of Hope have been forced to step down after restoration of the statue went horribly wrong – a move which will take effect ‘once this incident is resolved’.

The Brotherhood of the Macarena shared a lengthy statement at 2am local time on Tuesday following a nine-hour meeting,asking for ‘forgiveness for the moral and devotional damage’ caused by the botched restoration.

The basilica has been closed since the Virgin Mary statue was unveiled on Friday,while church staff tried to figure out how to deal with the situation.

Since then her eyelashes have been shortened to try and correct an ‘undesired effect’,and technicians from the Andalusian Institute of Historical Heritage (IAPH) are being called in to analyse the ‘current appearance’ of the image and supervise future restoration.

In the lengthy statement,the Brotherhood of the Macarena said the restoration work was led by Professor Francisco Arquillo Torres of the University of Seville,who was commissioned by the church to produce a report in May 2024 listing 11 areas of the statue which needed work.

When the restored statue was first returned to the church on Friday,her new eyelashes hadn’t yet been attached and it was deemed ‘ideal for worship’.

However,worshippers started to raise objections to the statue once the eyelashes had been attached by Saturday morning.

The 20th century Ecce Homo-style fresco of Christ before (left) and after the amateur restoration (Picture: AP)

Ana Cordero,who works in restoration,told Spanish newspaper El Pais: ‘The first impression is that the eyelashes were not correctly positioned and that they were too long.

‘Eyelashes are what give expressiveness to a devotional face,and her expression had changed.’

Continuing to point the finger of blame at Professor Arquillo,the Brotherhood said: ‘The process of dressing the Virgin to restore her to worship was completed completely normally.

‘Despite the change in appearance caused by the new eyelashes and consultations with Professor Arquillo,he indicated that it was a temporary effect resulting from this change.

‘After placing the Virgin in the dressing room,her appearance continued to raise concerns among the board officials; at that time,repeated attempts were made to contact Professor Arquillo,but without success,as he had already left the Basilica.

‘Since this was not possible,and just a few hours before the Basilica opened to the public,it was decided it was wrong to restore it to worship as it was.

‘During Saturday morning,and given the persistence of this undesirable aesthetic effect,Professor Arquillo was requested at the Basilica,along with other experts,to analyze a possible solution.

‘Therefore,it was decided to close the church to act as quickly as possible.’