Trump unveils plan for triumphal arch in Washington: eagles, lions, lots of gold
The president has said that major cities around the world have such monuments, and the US capital is the only one without one
US President Donald Trump’s plans for a new triumphal arch in the capital, unveiled on Friday, include a towering winged figure with a Lady Liberty-like torch and crown, flanked by two eagles and guarded by four lions – all gilded.
The 12-page plan released by the US Commission on Fine Arts shows the arch will stand 250 feet tall (76.2 metres) 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 plan indicates the structure would stand between the Lincoln Memorial in the east and Arlington National Cemetery towards the west and within a roundabout connecting Washington with northern Virginia.
The arch would dwarf the Lincoln Memorial, which stands at 99 feet tall (30.2 metres).
Trump has said he wants to build the arch near the Lincoln Memorial and argued that the nation’s capital first sought such a monument 200 years ago.
“It was interrupted by a thing called the Civil War, and so it never got built,” Trump said in February. “Then, they almost built something in 1902, but it never happened.”