Botched Restoration of 16th Century Sculpture in Estella Makes Headlines

16th Century Statue Gets a Shocking “Restoration” by a Local Teacher

Los mejores memes sobre la penosa restauración del ‘San Jorge de Estella' https://t.co/2E2QJXMbMe pic.twitter.com/izBICHRbAh

— Juank (@JCSura) June 26, 2018

Another Spanish church is making international headlines for a well-intentioned, but botched, restoration job. Six years after Cecilia Giménez's Ecco Homo was declared the worst restoration in history, a church in the town of Estella is facing backlash for conservation efforts it authorized. Located in northern Spain in Navarre, the authorities of the St. Michael's church requested assistance in restoring a 16th-century wooden effigy of St. George.

But instead of passing that request through the mayor's office, who would have asked the regional government to send in experts, church authorities apparently went to a local handicrafts teacher. Though surely they tried their best, the results go to show just how difficult restoration can be and how much care should be taken with historical patrimony.

Red rosy cheeks and a colorful suit of armor have had social media comparing the revamped effigy to Tintin. Local restoration group ArtUs Restauración Patrimonio was one of the first to sound the alarm that something was amiss. In a now-deleted Facebook post, they put up before and after photos of the work, questioning the quality of the work.

De nuevo en España se vuelve a destrozar una obra de arte. Esta imagen es de San Jorge y del siglo XVI de San Miguel de Estella (Navarra). Curioso que los jefes contraten a semejantes restauradores, a lo mejor se tendrían que restaurar los jefes que los contratan ¿No? pic.twitter.com/G9iyLidgPr

— Xavi Escaned (@escaned) June 26, 2018

“I saw photographs of the atrocity they were committing,” owner Carmen Usúa told The New York Times. “As a professional, I feel disconcerted and very offended. It takes years to acquire the skills necessary to carry out these kinds of restorations, so imagine the frustration when something like this happens.” She noted that the restoration had obliterated much of the original detail in the armor which was owed to polychrome layers of paint.

Mayor Koldo Leoz, who has expressed his frustration with the situation on Twitter, has called in experts to see if the damage can be reversed. “It's not been the kind of restoration that it should have been for this 16th-century statue. They’ve used plaster and the wrong kind of paint and it’s possible that the original layers of paint have been lost,” he stated. “This is an expert job it should have been done by experts.”

A botched restoration in Estella, Spain has transformed a 16th-century wooden sculpture into a figure compared to a children's cartoon.

Nuevas fuentes informan que la restauradora del San Jorge de Estella es muy fan de Tintín… pic.twitter.com/2ZtaRyqxNi

— franXu (@panse1981) June 26, 2018