The Triumphal Arch design recently unveiled by US President Donald Trump displays towering winged figure with a Lady Liberty-like torch and crown, flanked by two eagles and guarded by four lions. Laying down the blueprint of the 250-foot-tall controversial structure, which is planned to be built in the capital Washington DC across the Potomac River from the Lincoln Memorial, Trump on Friday said that his administration officially filed the presentation and plans.
Taking to social media platform Truth Social, the wrote, “I am pleased to announce that TODAY my Administration officially filed the presentation and plans to the highly respected Commission of Fine Arts for what will be the GREATEST and MOST BEAUTIFUL Triumphal Arch, anywhere in the World. This will be a wonderful addition to the Washington D.C. area for all Americans to enjoy for many decades to come!”
According to documents released by the US Commission on Fine Arts and accessed by AP, the Triumphal Arch would be erected between the Lincoln Memorial in the east and Arlington National Cemetery toward the west and within a traffic circle connecting Washington with northern Virginia.
Features of 250-foot-tall Triumphal Arch
Featuring gilded animal sculptures, the 12-page plan reveals that the height of the arch will be 250 feet (76.2 metres), measuring from its base to the tip of the winged figure’s torch. With “One Nation Under God” and “Liberty and Justice for All” inscribed in gold atop either side of the monument, the size of this arch will be more than double than that of the Lincoln Memorial, which stands at 99 feet tall (30.2 metres). Much taller than the iconic 164-foot-tall Arc De Triomphe in Paris, it would represent the “biggest, most powerful nation.”
Over the development of this new structure, Trump reasoned that the nation’s capital first sought such a monument 200 years ago. Over a month ago Trump had said, “It was interrupted by a thing called the Civil War, and so it never got built,” adding, “Then, they almost built something in 1902, but it never happened.”
The arch blueprint, submitted by Harrison Design to the Commission of Fine Arts ahead of that independent agency’s April 16 meeting on the proposal, show a large white structure, surrounded by four golden lions at its base.
The arch, according to its renderings, would be more than double the height of the Lincoln Memorial. According to Trump, the arch would be “the most beautiful in the world”. He argued that major cities across the world have such monuments, and Washington is the only one without one.
On Monday, Trump displayed the arch’s drawing at the White House Easter Egg Roll which came at a time Trump administration arrived at a compromise with a group of veterans who filed a lawsuit to prevent its construction. It is listed among one of the major architectural changes that Trump is making in his second term, including construction of a large ballroom at the White House. Besides this, he converted the Rose Garden into a stone-covered patio and also made changes to the , but the latest one is beyond the White House.
