You know you've seen it, or at the very least seen someone post a picture of it in your FB newsfeed. That big giant orange and yellow sculpture sitting in front of the Museum of Fine Arts.

But what the hell is it?

The first time I saw it, I thought it was the result of an explosion in a glass factory or is some kind of huge intricate bong. I was wrong.

This piece is called The Sun by Dale Chihuly.

Chihuly is an American glass sculptor who is known for  creating unique and technically difficult works of art.

The Sun is an art installation that stand at 5.5 metres and is made up 1,573 individual hand blown glass pieces.

It weighs 2,000 Kilos.

The sun was first unveiled at the New York Botanical Garden in 2006.

It was later on display at the de Young Museum in 2008.

Then it spent some time at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in 2010.

Photo cred - chihuly

And it eventually made its way to the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts in 2013 where it remained until 2014 when it was displayed in London’s Berkeley Square.

When it is shipped, the entire sculpture must be taken apart and reassembled. You can imagine the headache of having to put together a puzzle of this magnitude.

Assembling the pieces requires a crane, a team of builders, a scaffold, and an entire day of work.

Here is the process in fast forward.

[embed]https://youtu.be/RCn0LANkMsY[/embed]

When the sun left, Montrealers were heartbroken, so the Museum of Fine Arts started a campaign to bring the sun back permanently.

Thanks to donations from ordinary citizens and one very large donation from a Mr. J. Sebastian van Berkom, the Museum was able to purchase the installation which means it now has a permanent home in Montreal.

The sun will be returning on May 5th 2016 and the Museum of Fine Arts organised a special "Welcome Back" event in its honour.