Published July 23, 2010

A Citgo sunset (Tyson Cecka/Flickr)

Boston’s favorite landmark, which you can see from anywhere and which has withstood five hurricanes, is going dark for a few months. And then really, really bright. The Venezuelan oil company Citgo is replacing 218,000 LED lights with more modern, environmentally friendly, weather-resistant ones.

The 45-year-old sign went dark for four years during the energy crisis. In 1982, when Citgo announced plans to dismantle it, the Fenway faithful staged an uproar. It stayed on until 2005, when the sign briefly went dark to replace neon tubes with LEDs.

It’s certainly one of the most photographed signs. Flickr has a group dedicated to the landmark. BU Today, Boston University’s in-house news staff, produced a great visual retrospective when Citgo announced the renovation plans earlier this year. It even showed up in my 30-second Boston fireworks video. And WBUR Web developer Will Smith once wondered, would we love it as much if it were a BP sign?

The company says the sign will be restored by Sept. 2, just in time for baseball playoffs.