An utterly failed attempt in 2012 at restoring a 1930s Jesus wall painting in Borja, Spain, which resulted in the defacement of the piece of art has caused a spike in the tourism industry of the small town.
The effaced painting, depicting Jesus named ‘Ecce Homo-Behold the Man’, has become a tourist ‘attraction’, as many travellers visit the town in the north west of the country to see the disaster.
According to a New York Post article, people are clamouring in the town of Borja, with over 160,000 tourist visiting the Church of Mercy just to get a glimpse of the ‘destroyed man’.
Global curiosity
The global curiosity has led to a boom in tourism that’s allowed restaurants and museums in Borja, population 5,000, to remain stable during Spain’s crippling recession.
“The level of these numbers [of tourists] .?.?. has never happened before,” says Elena Aznar Martinez, who handles marketing for “Ecce Homo.”
“The visitors recognize me,” Gim?nez, 85, an amateur painter who had performed multiple church-sanctioned renovations of “Ecce Homo” over the years, tells The Post. “They take photos with [the painting] and with me .?.?. even though I tell them, ‘My children, I’m not an important person.’?”
Visitors are charged 1 euro per person to enter the church for viewing, and all proceeds go to a church-affiliated nursing home. Fifty-one percent of the proceeds from souvenir sales go to the nursing home, while 49 percent go to Gim?nez, who uses the money to care for her 56-year-old son, Jos? Antonio, who has cerebral palsy.
Read more here.
RELATED TOPICS: Greece, Greek tourism news, Tourism in Greece, Greek islands, Hotels in Greece, Travel to Greece, Greek destinations , Greek travel market, Greek tourism statistics, Greek tourism report
