Love is returning to the city of brotherly love just in time for Valentine’s Day.
Philadelphia’s historical “LOVE” statue will be back where it belongs after an extensive yearlong restoration process – and the alterations allowed the park where it was located to undergo modifications as well.
The statue itself, completed by Robert Indiana, is constructed of 830 pounds of aluminum that was placed in its location on loan for the 1976 U.S. bicentennial celebrations. It was repainted twice in its well-known red, green, and blue.
However, it was later mentioned by Mr. Indiana’s representatives that the blue sections of the statue should have actually been painted purple. The reason behind the color purple is for Philadelphia’s love to stand out from other cities around the world. Despite this, city officials viewed painting the statue any other color than its originals as disrespectful.
The city’s public art director, Margot Berg, told the New York Times, “I was astounded because no one here remembered it as anything but red, green, and blue. We didn’t have any photographs in the file of anything but red, green, and blue.”
Although, archived pictures from Temple University shed light that the original color actually was purple. Ms. Berg ended up deciding to use purple paint for the restoration.
“People are more interested than shocked,” Ms. Berg told the New York Times.
The statue is set to return to JFK Plaza, also known as LOVE Park, on February 13th.
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