Photo from Facebook/Twitter, accessed from The Guardian

When will it stop? Spain once again made news after another botched “restoration” captured the public’s attention. Now referred to as the Potato Head of Palencia, the once smiling statue of a woman has fallen victim to “substandard” restoration. It is the most recent atrocity in a line of restorations-gone-wrong in the Iberian nation. The highly-publicized line of incidents began with the comically bad creation of the “Beast Jesus” in Borja, Spain. Shockingly, the restorer intended to restore a painting of Jesus, but created an unusual image more akin to a monkey than to Christ.

Experts in Spain are calling for stricter conservation guidelines because these seemingly comic restorations actually irreparably damage the nation’s heritage. Responding to the Palencia restoration, Spain’s Professional Association of Restorers and Conservators (ACRE) wrote on Twitter that the job was “NOT a professional restoration.” The identity of the rogue “restorer” is unknown at this time.

For more information about the prior problematic restorations in Spain, please find a blog post from August 2020.