No LOVE in Philly as famed sculpture undergoes repairs

Philadelphia’s famed LOVE sculpture is going to be out of public view for the next few months as it undergoes a restoration, the Center City District announced.

The sculpture is well-known as an ever-popular destination for selfie-snapping tourists. It was moved from its home in LOVE Park across the street to Dilworth Park a year ago for the park’s $16.5 million renovation.

“Robert Indiana’s iconicLOVEsculpture was last refurbished in 1998 and is again in need of a full conservation treatment,” Margot Berg, public art director of the Office of Arts, Culture and the Creative Economy said.

The statue’s restoration is estimated to cost $50,000, the Inquirer reported.

The statue will be removed from Dilworth Park on Wednesday. It is expected to return to its original home when the newly renovated LOVE Park reopens later this summer.

“Conservators will strip all of the paint from the sculpture and will apply an anticorrosion primer to the surface,” according to a release about the planned work.

“TheLOVEsculpture will then be repainted in its iconic red, blue and green paint, followed by the application of a clear protective coating.” It will be reinstalled a few weeks later.

The statue first came to Philly in 1976.