The much-loved Prada Marfa installation is staying for good. After almost a year of negotiating for its removal, the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) has dropped its claim that the Texas landmark created by Danish and Nordic artists Elmgreen & Dragset constitutes an "illegal advert". The artwork will now be classified as a museum.

Campaigners Save Prada Marfa announced the happy news on its Facebook page, thanking everyone who had "supported this important artwork by sharing this page, by making phone calls and writing letters to the good folks at TxDOT".

Prada Marfa was threatened with removal when a Playboy installation – a neon sign in the shape of the famous bunny – was built opposite it. Local authorities deemed the neon bunny an "illegal advertisement", and turned their attentions to Elmgreen & Dragset's piece after the Playboy sign was dismantled.  

The Ballroom Marfa Foundation, which manages the site, gained a lease for the land and managed to get it classified as a museum – albeit one with a fake Prada store as its sole exhibit. This clever loophole means that Prada Marfa will remain a strange and beautiful blip on the highway for the foreseeable future.

Elmgreen & Dragset's installation has had a turbulent 2014. Guerilla artist 9271977 vandalised the shopfront with graffiti and TOMS stickers back in March, much to the displeasure of Prada Marfa's creators. Luckily, volunteers cleaned up the installation – and thanks to the Ballroom Marfa Foundation and other supporters, Prada Marfa will remain a permanent fixture off the Route 90 highway.