Outcry as a 1,000-year-old protected Buddha was painted with 'ridiculous' colours during botched repair works
August 8, 2018 | In the PressFrom The Daily Mail (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/china/article-6039205/Outcry-1-000-year-old-Buddha-statue-given-ridiculous-colour-pattern-botched-repair-works.html (opens in a new window))
Botched repair works of a protected Buddha statue in south-west China have left the relic covered in bright, cartoonish colours, sparking ridicule and outrage.
One web user joked that the stone sculpture, around 1,000 years old, now appears to have a giant lollipop behind its head; while another person lamented that the sacred figure looks like it belonged in a red light district.
The local government has issued an apology after photos of the flubbed restoration went viral on social media, where users called the paintwork 'disfiguring and disrespectful'.
The alarming facelift in China brought back memories of other botched works, including the failed restoration of a Jesus Christ fresco in a Spanish church in 2012 that left the saviour looking like a hairy monkey.
The restoration works on the protected artifact were actually carried out in 1995 by unqualified workers.
But the incident was brought to light on Saturday after Xu Xin, a guide at the Dunhuang grottoes in Gansu province, posted the pictures on his Weibo account, where criticisms and angry comments quickly gathered.
The relic is situated inside a grotto in Anyue county, Sichuan province, and dates back to the Song dynasty (960-1279).
Before and after pictures of the 1,000-year-old Buddha shows bright red, yellow, blue and green paint splattered onto the sculpture, creating a cartoonish colour scheme.
A halo behind the sacred figure was filled in with different colours, leaving the Buddha's head right in the centre of what looks like a rainbow dart board.
Xu told MailOnline that the botched repair is 'a great shame'.
'Cultural relics are called cultural relics because of their "old" appearances, indicating their historical value,' he said.
'Re-construction works may reflect the believers' faith, but if the original marks of the original artifact are covered up, it will be transformed into a religious statue and wouldn't be a historic relic anymore.'
The incident remained a trending topic on Weibo, with the page titled 'Grotto statue suspected of being brutally restored' gathering more than 42 million views.
'What is that behind the Buddha's head? Is it a lollipop?' One said.
'The once-dignified statue is now completely ruined by amateurs,' said another. 'Looking at the colourful Buddhua, I don't feel peace anymore.'
'The sculpture now looks like it belongs in a red light district,' commented another. 'The colour scheme reminds me of busy traffic lights.'
The Anyue county prides itself on being 'the City of Lemons and the City of Buddhist Sculptures'. There are more than 100,000 sculptures dating back as early as the 900s erected across the township, according to the government website.
In a notice posted on its official Weibo account, the Anyue County government said the restoration job was proposed and paid for by local residents in June, 1995.
'Residents lacked professional knowledge on cultural relic conservation and restoration and hired workers to carry out the repair works,' the statement read.
It claimed that officials immediately stopped the job after finding out, but the Buddha statue was already re-painted. However, they were able to prevent similar works that were scheduled to be carried out on other statues in the same grotto.
'After the incident, the Administration of Cultural Heritage strengthened management and protection of other relics,' it added. 'No similar restoration work was carried out again in recent years.'
In 2013, centries-old Buddhist frescos in a temple in Liaoning province were ruined when they were painted over with cartoon-like Taoist figures during an unauthorised restoration.
The paintings were inside a 270-year-old temple and are said to be from the early period of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). As a result, two government officials were fired.
Elsewhere, a 1930 'Ecce Homo' fresco of Jesus Christ in a church in Borja, Spain was wrecked by a pensioner in her 80s, who became the laughing stock of the world in 2012 after the failed restoration attempts sparked global condemnation.
In June this year, a 16th-century St George sculpture erected in a small church in the town of Estella, northern Spain was left looking 'like a Disney cartoon character' after a botched facelift by a local handicrafts teacher.
