Repainted 200-year-old Virgin Mary shrine ‘looks more like Marge Simpson’

Sarah Hooper

Published March 21, 2025 3:03pm Updated March 22, 2025 11:15am

The horrifying paint job has sparked debate online (Picture: Exegi Monumentum / TVP3 Katowice)

Villagers are searching for an amateur artist who ‘renovated’ a more than 200-year-old shrine in Poland.

Jesus and the Virgin Mary are depicted in the 1820 shrine, which is a registered monument in Studzionka, a small village in southern Poland.

But recent photos of the monument pointed out that it had been repainted – with the artist even signing their initials, ‘J. Cz’.

Pictures of the shrine went viral when former monument conservator Monika Bogdanowska shared it on Facebook.

The Virgin Mary looks particularly shocked with her new paint job – her eyes darting to the side while clasping her hands.

Her skin colour appears more like that of Marge Simpson than the Madonna.

‘Another display of “good intentions”. A renovated roadside chapel from the town of Studzionka. It is enough to imagine that it was good, sculptural work, unfortunately very tarnished with thick layers of paint,’ wrote Bogdanowska.

‘The cross stands in the middle of nowhere – there are no trees, which greatly changes the context of the chapel.

E R I N G ! A thick layer of glossy market paint shines in the December sun. I wipe my eyes in amazement as I pass by standing next to the road, until recently a stone cross, today repainted with paints in bright colors. The object is no longer one of the many crosses that can be found on the road from Pszczyna to Paw?owice in the Silesian Voivodeship. Now his blazing colors are calling from afar at travelers, he is shouting about the fall of sacred art, about the voluntary treatment of a 200-year-old work as the first better fence with the cheapest paint from the construction market, and at the same time he is shouting for the fall of value and pauperization of every area of life. The scene depicting the agony of Christ and the suffering of the Virgin, originally perhaps a bit provincial, but sincere and pious, now scares the stylists of garden gnomes. Works done by Mysterious J Part of July 2024 Inscription on the chocolate in German: "Es ist vollbracht! "(?It is perfect!!? ", "It's filled up!" "), dramatically summarizing earthly life and Christ's martyr death, spontaneously translated as "It is finished!" ?. This poorly composed note sheds light on the whole matter: the "work" has been done, and you can't do anything about it! The last act of drama is complemented by the information obtained from the Municipal Conservatory of Monuments in Pszczyn, that this stone cross is in the register of monuments (reg. no. B/335/72), and therefore any activity carried out there must obtain the approval of the conservation services. https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=122118835196699419&set=pcb.122118836312699419 — The previous monument was paler in colour (Picture: Google)

‘The author of the photos alerted the conservation services about the matter, let’s hope that in the near future it will be possible to subject this valuable object to professional conservation because it deserves it.’

An inspection into the damage caused to the shrine is currently underway by local authorities, who said: ‘We are not dealing here with a case of vandalism, we are dealing with a case, quite common in smaller, local communities, of a shrine being restored in an absolutely unacceptable way.

‘Unfortunately, this has led to the devastation of the monument.’

Aktualno?ci TVP3 Katowice It's over 2??0??0?? years old, so it may have really needed a renovation. And there was someone who took on this difficult task With what result? Judge for yourself ?? It should be added that the shrine is a monument and its destruction is punishable?? Even this is unintentional... The shrine is located at the street. Wodzis?awska in Studioka https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=1173026794828407&set=pcb.1173027684828318 — Mother Mary appears to have a lack of facial features – except for her mouth (Picture: TVP3 Katowice)

It could have been worse. In 2012, a woman in her eighties attempted to restore a fresco of Jesus Christ in Zaragoza, Spain – but it looked like ‘a hairy monkey in an ill-fitting tunic’.

The pensioner made an unauthorised attempt to transform the prized painting after it had deteriorated due to moisture.

Ecce Homo (Behold the Man) by Elias Garcia Martinez had been residing in the Sanctuary of Mercy Church near Zaragoza for over 100 years when the woman snuck into ‘restore it’ by herself.

The once dignified portrait soon resembled a child’s sketch, a creature from Planet of the Apes or, as one onlooker succinctly put it, ‘a hairy monkey in an ill-fitting tunic’.

While the fresco was not thought to be especially valuable, it holds high sentimental value for local people.

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