LOVE sculpture makes its triumphant return

After two years, LOVE has come home to Philadelphia.

The LOVE sculpture was ceremoniously paraded down the Ben Franklin Parkway Tuesday morning before being re-installed at LOVE Park, just in time for Valentine’s Day.

It was removed from the park in Feb. 2016 and transferred to nearby Dilworth Park for a year, until it was removed for restorations.

During this restoration, the blue color inside the letters, added by mistake two decades ago, was finally corrected to a purple hue. The color correction brings Philly’s LOVE sculpture, which is made of aluminum and weighs 830 pounds, back to the “original intent” of sculptor Robert Indiana, now 89.

Philly’s sculpture is one of the original set of six that sculptor Indiana created in 1976 for the US Bicentennial. He loaned it to Philly, and it was later purchased by citizen F. Eugene Dixon, who donated it to the city.

“It’s the only one of that size from that year in purple in the world,” said Margot Berg, public art director for the city’s Office of Arts and Culture. “People of all demographics appreciate it, the simple, single word: love.”

The restoration was performed by Materials Conservation, LLC and Iron Studio, Inc.