The official renderings of the massive monument President Donald Trump wants to build to commemorate the 250th Anniversary of the United States have been unveiled.
The 250-foot “Triumphal Arch,” designed to be built in Memorial Circle, a traffic roundabout near Arlington National Cemetery, would dwarf the 99-foot Lincoln Memorial just across the Potomac River.
Illustrations of the gigantic monument show a white arch with gold leafing on some details. The words “One Nation Under God” are written in gold across the top of it.
On top of it stands a winged Lady Liberty statue in gold with two golden eagles on either side. The arch is also flanked by four large golden lions facing out.
The renderings drawn up by Harrison Design were submitted by the Interior Department to the Commission on Fine Arts ahead of its scheduled meeting on April 16.
They came as Trump spent Friday rage-posting about Iran ahead of high-stakes peace talks in Pakistan. Meanwhile, the latest data released Friday shows inflation soared last month, with the price of gas posting its largest one-month jump ever.
But the conflict and Americans’ fear of its wider impact have not stopped the president from plunging forward with a series of projects to leave his mark on the nation’s capital and redecorate the White House.
The arch is being considered at the next commission meeting, as a group of military veterans has sued to stop the project, arguing that it would alter views of Arlington National Cemetery.
They’re not wrong based on the new renderings.
The designs show that, from the bottom to the statue’s tip, the arch would reach 250 feet into the air. For comparison, the Lincoln Memorial, just across the bridge, driving into Washington, DC, stands at just 99 feet.
The arch also includes a main level, upper deck, and a viewing deck. The base is 166 feet in length and 81 feet wide.
The renderings filed on Friday were the first formally filed plans filed by the Trump administration after Trump had been teasing the project for months.
He’s shown off a series of mini replicas and displayed one model of it on the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office, prompting questions about his plans for the arch as far back as last October.
While the commission will discuss the project at its meeting next Thursday, the president has stacked the panel with allies and supporters.
Even as the administration moves forward with planning for the project, the fight to stop the building of the arch is also playing out in the legal system.
The group of three Vietnam War veterans and an architectural historian sued in February to halt it. They’ve blasted it as a “vanity project” and argued the massive arch would obstruct the carefully designed, historically significant view between Arlington House and the Lincoln Memorial.
Asked for his reaction to the lawsuit by veterans this week, Trump responded, “You gotta be kidding.”
In December, Trump complained about Washington, DC not having a triumphal arch and bragged that the one he wanted to build would blow away the famous Arc de Triomphe in Paris, France by “a lot.”
This week, it was revealed that the Trump administration wants American taxpayers to help foot the bill for the arch. The money would come from the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Its spending plan, approved by the Office of Management and Budget last year, showed that $2 million in program funds were reserved for the arch as well as another $13 million in matching funds. It was not immediately clear which matching private contributions would go toward the project.
