On Friday, the Trump administration unveiled plans for a 250-foot Triumphal Arch to be built along the Potomac River near the Arlington Memorial Bridge.
Current renderings show the monument situated in a traffic circle on the Virginia side of the river, positioned between the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington National Cemetery.
A golden-winged Lady Liberty sits atop the arch, alongside two eagles. The words “One Nation Under God” would be etched on one side of the structure, with “Liberty and Justice for All” on the other. The designs also feature four statues of lions surrounding the base.
Harrison Design, an architecture firm with an office in Washington, is credited with the drawings.
President Donald Trump previously displayed models of the proposed arch at a White House fundraising dinner in October for a separate project: the renovation of the White House ballroom. Trump said the angel on top of the models was Lady Liberty.
“Small, medium and large — whichever one, they look good,” Trump said of the models at the time. “I happen to think the larger one looks, by far, the best.”
The Commission of Fine Arts will consider the designs for approval at a meeting next week, according to CBS News.
The administration also plans to create a National Garden of American Heroes featuring 250 statues, The New York Times reported.
The project comes amid an ongoing legal battle over the White House East Wing. A federal judge recently halted construction on the wing for a planned ballroom unless the administration receives congressional approval. The Trump administration has appealed the ruling, as previously reported by the Deseret News.
The project is currently slated to be funded by a combination of public and private funds, with American taxpayers expected to cover a portion of the monument’s costs, according to CBS News.
In December, Trump said Washington was “the only city in the world that’s of great importance that doesn’t have a triumphal arc.”
“This one is going to blow them all away,” he said. “The one that people know mostly is the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, France. And we’re going to top it by I think a lot,” CBS News reported.
The proposed monument has already earned the nickname “Arc de Trump.”
Mixed reactions
The renderings have received a mixed response online. While many oppose the construction, others — including some typical critics of the administration — expressed support for “a big new monument” to mark the nation’s 250th birthday.
Vietnam veterans sue over proposed plans
A group of Vietnam War veterans and a retired architectural historian filed a federal lawsuit in February to block construction of the proposed monument.
The lawsuit challenges the 250-foot height of the arch, as well as its placement. The plaintiffs called it a “vanity project” that would disrupt the symbolic sightline between the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington House. That view was originally designed to symbolize a call for national unity after the Civil War, according to NPR.
The group also argued the arch could “pose a hazard to air travel at nearby Reagan National Airport.”