Washington needs more monuments like Trump’s bold new Triumphal Arch
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The Fine Arts Commission has officially approved President Trump’s plans to build a Triumphal Arch on the outskirts of Washington, on the Memorial Bridge and across from the Lincoln Memorial.
The plan prepared by the Ministry of Internal Affairs envisions a Triumphal Arch 250 meters high, decorated with eagles and crowned with a statue of women’s liberation. It will be a monument to American exceptionalism and a tribute to America’s 250th birthday this July. Arch is classic President Trump: He says he is not ashamed of America’s greatness and that we are ready to build things worthy of our great nation.
It’s also a hopeful sign of the Trump administration’s commitment to revitalizing classical architecture. Last summer, President Trump signed an executive order titled “Re-beautifying Federal Architecture” directing the General Services Administration that new federal buildings “elevate and beautify public spaces” and “glorify the United States.” The belt is the latest expression yet of the movement to reclaim beauty as a civic value, and I’m proud to stand behind it.
HOW DO WE REALIZE TRUMP’S VISION TO MAKE FEDERAL ARCHITECTURE BEAUTIFUL AGAIN?
Elites disdaining the arch would have you believe that grand civic monuments are somehow ostentatious, or even less convincingly fascist. The New Yorker, among the snobbiest magazines out there, recently accused President Trump’s belt of belonging to the “Architecture of Autocracy.”
But most Americans instinctively understand that beauty in public spaces is not authoritarian; Public beauty is a gift and an important part of our republican heritage and tradition. The design of the Arc de Triomphe complements the classical, democratic architecture of the Capitol Building, the Washington Monument and the Jefferson Memorial.
By contrast, the late modernist architecture in Washington, D.C., which the Trump administration aims to replace, stands out like an ugly, authoritarian sore thumb. The J. Edgar Hoover FBI Building is a brutal disaster. The Hubert Humphrey Building looks like something out of a Soviet-era nightmare. Dr. Ben Carson called the HUD building “ten floors above the basement.” Located in the heart of our nation’s capital, these disgusting buildings diminish expectations of our government and leave citizens feeling small.
The Triumphal Arch completely reverses this message. We say America is great and we’re not ashamed to show it.
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I look forward to seeing the construction of the Arc de Triomphe in the next few months and hope that this, along with the East Wing Ballroom, will be one of many projects that will restore beauty to federal architecture. Earlier this year, I introduced the Beautifying Federal Civil Architecture Act to codify into law what President Trump created by executive order. The design will enable classic buildings like the Arc de Triomphe to be built in Washington, D.C. and across the country for many years to come.
Because beautiful architecture shouldn’t be reserved for Washington residents, and it hasn’t been that way in the past. I grew up in a trailer park in Columbia City, Indiana. My neighborhood didn’t look like the National Mall, but I didn’t have to go far to find similar buildings. Built in 1888, the Whitley County Courthouse stood right in the middle of our town square, its dome towering over everything else. I felt inspired every time I saw it. The courthouse told me my city mattered, the laws mattered, and something bigger than everyday life was happening inside those limestone walls.
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Congress should enshrine these architectural principles into law so more Americans can enjoy monuments like the Arc de Triomphe and courthouses like the Whitley County Courthouse.
These are beautiful buildings that will last. They are worth it, and so is this country.
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