From Mona Lisa to Mickey Mouse, a Philippine guesthouse owner has pieced together over a thousand jigsaw puzzles, and on Thursday her collection was officially declared the world's largest.
"It was just a hobby at first. It takes away my stress," Gina Gil Lacuna, 61, told AFP as she was awarded her certificate of recognition by Guinness World Records.
But the pastime, which she took up 26 years ago, turned into an obsession that has seen her collect a total of 1,028 different puzzles, framed wall to wall at her two-story bed and breakfast.
The puzzles form pictures of religious figures, animals and landscapes, and even Philippine President Benigno Aquino, with the largest containing over 18,000 pieces.
Her guesthouse, in the resort city of Tagaytay just outside the Philippine capital, is known as "Puzzle Mansion".
"She is very disciplined lady. Every day, she spends three or four hours doing puzzles," said Guinness adjudicator Seyda Subasi Gemici, adding that all the jigsaws had to be different and with all the pieces complete to count towards the total.
Her collection surpasses the previous record of 238 puzzles held by a Brazilian woman, Guinness officials said, and she is already working on 20 new puzzles so she can retain her title.
