Top 10 Funniest Botched Art Restorations

China’s Qing Dynasty lasted for over 250 years, until the early 20th century. Unfortunately, some of the artwork from this period was sloppily “restored” in the Buddhist Yunjie Temple in Liaoning province. The frescoes there were painted over and became completely unrecognizable; with a few comparing the resultant artwork to cartoons. Some of the officials in charge were fired, and the Internet response ranged from laughter to tears at the destruction of a cultural artifact. Personally, it looks to us like something you might see drawn on a wall at a daycare center.

Ocakli Ada castle is located in the town of Sile on the coast of the Black Sea in Turkey. Estimated to have been roughly 2000 years old, the castle was renovated in 2010, though many were incredulous about its new look. While it had previously looked like a crumbling ruin, the castle’s new appearance boasts bright stone and features oddly shaped windows, which critics have claimed makes it resembled SpongeBob SquarePants, or something from the game “Minecraft.” We wouldn’t be surprised if someone recreated the castle in “Minecraft,” actually, though it’ll take a while before it’s “under the sea.”

Saint George is famed for supposedly slaying a dragon, but this restoration job pretty much “slayed” a statue of him. Located in St. Michael’s Church in Navarre, Spain, this sculpture was restored, not by a team of professionals, but rather by a local teacher. The result not only has the wrong texture, but its goofy, cross-eyed face has elicited plenty of derision online. Given that the parish didn’t tell the local historical organization they were going to do it, they and the teacher were both fined, and a professional team was called upon to “un-restore” it, and make it look more like it did originally.

In 1995, local workers repainted a Buddha statue in southwest China that dates back to the Song dynasty, roughly 1000 years ago. While they were prevented from continuing with similar attempts in the area after officials told them to stop, the damage was already done. The statue went largely unremarked on for the next 20-odd years, until 2018, when a social media post sent everyone into an uproar about its garish color scheme. Some have compared the halo around its head to a lollipop or a traffic light, rather than the dignified historical and spiritual ambience it’s meant to convey.

Located in Soledad, Colombia, this statue of San Antonio de Padua, a.k.a. Saint Anthony, was restored in 2018, after it was decided that it needed some touch-ups. But the end result has evoked disapproval from many parishioners, as the saint now appears to be wearing lipstick, eyeshadow, and rouge, which isn’t a typical look for a saint. Not only does the saint himself appear to be wearing makeup, but so does the child he’s holding! Given that the job was reportedly performed for a little over 300 dollars, we suppose they got what they paid for!

For another 2018 restoration, we return again to Spain, where in the town of Rañadorio, an amateur restorer “restored” a trio of statues that depict St. Anne, the Virgin Mary, and Jesus; the Virgin Mary and Jesus by themselves; as well as St. Peter. Their previous appearances were quite muted, the result of an earlier restoration carried out in 2002, but their updated color scheme is extremely bright, as well as probably inaccurate – at least, we’re pretty sure that Mary didn’t wear robes that were bright pink or have green hair.

Turning to Brazil, the Santa Cruz de Barra chapel restored their statue of Santa Barbara in 2012. Done over six months by the Museu Histórico do Exército in Rio, the restoration removed multiple layers of paint, ostensibly to get closer to the statue’s original appearance. However, as with many botched restorations, its brighter and inauthentic colors were criticized. In addition, the flat, porcelain-like face and glassy eyes have drawn comparisons to a Barbie doll. While we can’t know everything about Saint Barbara, it’s doubtful she would find her “life in plastic” fantastic…

Here are some good intentions gone awry. At the Sainte-Anne des Pins Catholic Church in Sudbury, Ontario, Canada, a statue of the Virgin Mary and infant Jesus was repeatedly vandalized, eventually culminating in the theft of baby Christ’s head. A local artist, Heather Wise, offered to create a replacement for it. However, while well-intentioned, her terracotta substitute clashed hilariously with the rest of the statue. Along with being the wrong color, Jesus’ new head drew comparisons to everything from a demon to Lisa Simpson. Thankfully, the thief felt bad enough to return the head eventually.

If at first you don’t succeed... sometimes you shouldn’t try again. There have been two unsuccessful restoration attempts on The Immaculate Conception, a painting by 17th century Spanish baroque artist Bartolomé Esteban Murillo. Both leave much to be desired, as the Virgin Mary’s face is left unrecognizable in both of them, though we’ll grant that the first one looks slightly more like the original. The collector who commissioned the 2020 restoration is seeking to get a third restoration performed on the painting, this time by someone experienced with art; the previous restorer was experienced with restoring…furniture.

Originally painted in a church in Borja, Spain in 1930 by Elías García Martínez, this fresco, whose name means “behold the man,” depicts Jesus wearing the crown of thorns. But the artwork became famous — or maybe infamous — in 2012, after an amateur artist attempted to restore it. The result of her work on Ecce Homo has been almost universally compared to a monkey, to the point where many have nicknamed it “Ecce Mono,” or, “Behold the Monkey”. Still, while it’s often a target of laughter, the botched restoration has drawn plenty of tourism to the town where it is located. So there’s that.