A Spanish church has come under fire after it hired an amateur painter and local school teacher to restore a priceless 16th-century statue.

The statue of St George at St Michael’s Church in Estella, a northern town in Spain, required a lick of paint to restore the cracked and faded wooden figure.

But instead of returning the statue to its original glory, the restoration left St George looking like a cartoon character, horrifying the town and cultural officials alike.

“I don’t think it was done with malice, but they obviously have not acted responsibly with the treasure they had in their possession,” Estella mayor Koldo Leoz told The Guardian on Tuesday.

“The council wasn’t told and neither was the regional government of Navarre.

Spanish authorities are now looking into how to fix the botched restoration. Photo: Facebook

“They’ve used plaster and the wrong kind of paint and it’s possible that the original layers of paint have been lost. This is an expert job; it should have been done by experts.

“People are disappointed and sad … Estella used to be known as a place that took care of its heritage, now we’re famous for the opposite.”

He said experts were examining the statue to see if the damage could be undone.

“It’s possible the detail of the armour and original colours have been lost forever,” Mr Leoz said.

Images shared on social media showed St George transformed with a pink face and bright coloured armour. Some users likened the statue to Tintin or to a Lego character.

Professional restorers also blasted the botched fix-up as “frightening”.

“We cannot tolerate more attacks on our cultural heritage,” Spain’s art conservation association (ACRE) said in a statement. “It shows a frightening lack of training of the kind required for this sort of job.”

Local news source Efe reported the parish priest who hired the arts and crafts teacher simply wanted the sculpture to be cleaned and did not intend for it to be restored.

How the Ecce Homo fresco looked before and after its restoration. Photo: Centro de Estudos Borjanos

The so-called restoration has been compared to the now-infamous attempt to restore the Ecce Homo (Behold the Man) fresco of Jesus Christ in 2012.

The botched job drew widespread mockery and was dubbed “monkey Christ”. However, it has become a major tourist attraction at the Sanctuary of Mercy in the small village of Borja, Spain.

-with agencies