'LOVE' sculpture will parade down Parkway in return home

Another parade is coming to town. Sort of.

The city's most beloved 830 pounds of aluminum will return to  John F. Kennedy Plaza on Tuesday, making a few stops along the way.

Robert Indiana's LOVE sculpture had been whisked away while the park underwent renovations. Art conservators took the opportunity to put on a fresh coat of paint and correct a color error that was made the last time the statue was refurbished. (Look for the purple sides of the letters, which had for the last 30 years been light blue).

The sculpture will ride ceremoniously down the Benjamin Franklin Parkway on a flatbed truck leaving at 10 a.m. from 25th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue in front of the Joan of Arc statue and ending in JFK Plaza about 11:15 a.m.

"We are thrilled to welcome the newly restored LOVE back to its home in LOVE Park," said Margot Berg, the city's public art director. "'LOVE on the Move' is a first chance to see the sculpture since being restored to its original colors. It also offers the unique opportunity to see it travel through the streets of Philadelphia and alongside other beloved city of Philadelphia public art sculptures and cultural institutions."

The seven stops will show off other public art in the city.

The sculpture will make the following stops on its return trip, according to the city. Times are approximate.

10:10 a.m. — Eakins Oval: The Washington monument by Rudolf Siemering, 1897.
Sitting across from the Philadelphia Museum of Art stairs, this monument was commissioned by the Society of the Cincinnati of Pennsylvania to commemorate those who fought together during the War of Independence.

10:20 a.m. — 20th Street and Benjamin Franklin Parkway: All Wars Memorial to Colored Soldiers and Sailors by J. Otto Schweizer, 1934
Commissioned by the Pennsylvania Legislature as a monument to Pennsylvania's African American military men, the sculpture and its location represent overdue respect.

10:30 a.m. — Logan Square: The Swann Memorial Fountain by Alexander Stirling Calder, 1924
The swan figures reference Dr. Wilson Cary Swann, who founded the Philadelphia Fountain Society to provide fresh drinking water throughout the city. The three reclining Native American figures represent Philadelphia's three waterways: the Delaware River, the Schuylkill, and the Wissahickon Creek.

10:45 a.m. — 18th Street and the Parkway: AMOR by Robert Indiana, 1998
This Latin/Spanish version of the LOVE sculpture was created in response to the changing demographics of the United States and the artist's desire to speak to his fellow citizens. As a permanent part of the City of Philadelphia's public art collection since its debut during the 2015 World Meeting of Families, AMOR serves as a companion artwork to LOVE.

11 a.m. — 16th Street and the Parkway: Monument to Six Million Jewish Martyrs by Nathan Rapoport, 1964
This impassioned memorial to the victims of the Holocaust was commissioned by the Association of New Jewish Americans and the Federation of Jewish Agencies of Greater Philadelphia.

11:15 a.m. — Arrival at JFK Plaza for reinstallation