Trump triumphal arch renderings show 250-foot structure
Illustration of plans for the 250-foot triumphal arch in Washington, DC
Courtesy: Harrison Design | US Fine Arts Commission
New architectural drawings President Donald Trump’s controversial proposed “triumphal arch” released Friday shows a 250-foot structure standing across the Potomac River from the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.
Drawings provided by Harrison Design Fine Arts Commission A large white structure with a gilded Women’s Liberty statue and the words “One Nation Under God” is seen ahead of the independent agency’s April 16 meeting on the proposal.
Four golden lions surround the base of the arch.
According to renderings, the arch would be more than twice the height of the Lincoln Memorial. Trump told reporters earlier this year that the arch would be “the most beautiful in the world.”
The monument, which Trump has been teasing since last year, is planned to be built at Memorial Circle, an intersection leading to downtown D.C. near Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia.
Illustration of plans for the 250-foot triumphal arch in Washington, DC
Courtesy: Harrison Design | US Fine Arts Commission
The drawings are the first official plans submitted by the Trump administration for the arch, one of several projects aimed at celebrating the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence this summer.
“They’ve been wanting to build an arch for 200 years,” Trump told reporters on February 1.
“Nearly 57 cities around the world have triumphal arches, and the only major city, Washington DC, still doesn’t have them,” he said.
On February 2, the President posted a photo on social media showing the India Gate with the message: “India’s beautiful Arc de Triomphe. Ours will be the greatest of them all!”
Visitors walk near the India Gate in New Delhi, India. India Gate was built in memory of more than 90,000 Indian soldiers who lost their lives during the Afghan Wars and World War I.
Sakib Majid | SOPA Pictures | LightRocket via Getty Images
Rep. Don Beyer, D-Va., criticized the Arch project in a social media post Friday.
“While Americans worry about skyrocketing costs and another endless war, President Trump is focused on a taxpayer-funded vanity project that will clog traffic, block our skyline, and rise above sacred ground where those who served our nation, including my own family and my sister, are buried,” Beyer wrote in his Bluesky post.
“This is not about America’s 250th anniversary or honoring our veterans,” Beyer wrote. “This is about Donald Trump’s ego, and we’re going to stop it.”
The Fine Arts Commission, which will consider the proposal, is filled with Trump allies.
Agency approved the president’s $400 million, 90,000-square-foot White House in February ballroom renovation.
A federal judge in Washington, D.C., blocked the ballroom renovation on March 31, saying no law “could come close” to allowing Trump to build such a structure at the White House without permission from Congress.
NOTUS news outlet reported This week, the Trump administration planned to use taxpayer funds to pay for the belt. According to the financial report of the National Endowment for the Humanities 2026 spending planA special initiative fund of $2 million and a matching fund of $13 million were allocated for the project.
Vietnam War veterans and a historian filed a lawsuit in February in U.S. District Court in Washington to halt construction of the arch, arguing it would hinder views of the Vietnam War and Lincoln memorials at Arlington National Cemetery.
Judge Tanya Chutkan last week refused to issue an injunction to close the arch.MS Now reported.
