Washington — The Interior Department has filed renderings for President Trump’s proposed triumphal arch near Arlington National Cemetery that portray a monument far larger than the Lincoln Memorial across the Potomac.
The concept calls for an arch roughly 250 feet tall — more than twice the 99-foot height of the Lincoln Memorial — which would make it the tallest triumphal arch in the world, about 30 feet higher than the one at Mexico City’s Plaza de la República. The proposal aligns with the president’s stated goal of creating an imposing commemorative structure for the nation’s 250th anniversary.
Renderings place the arch in a traffic circle on the Virginia side of the Potomac between the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington National Cemetery, on land that technically falls within the District of Columbia. Visuals from Washington architecture firm Harrison Design show the arch framed against the Lincoln Memorial and Washington Monument and visible from the Arlington Memorial Bridge.
Design details on the submitted plans include inscriptions on either side reading “One Nation Under God” and “Liberty and Justice For All.” The top of the arch would be crowned by a gold-colored Lady Liberty flanked by two eagles, and four lion statues would surround the base.
President Trump has promoted the idea publicly, sharing design concepts, saying the monument is “for me,” and comparing it to Paris’s Arc de Triomphe. In a Truth Social post he said his team had filed plans with the Commission of Fine Arts and called the project the “GREATEST and MOST BEAUTIFUL Triumphal Arch, anywhere in the World.”
Federal funds would contribute to the project under a National Endowment for the Humanities spending plan approved by the Office of Management and Budget. That plan reserves $2 million in special initiative funds and $13 million in matching funds “for the arch.”
The proposed location lies along a flight path for Reagan National Airport, prompting questions about potential effects on aircraft approaches. The Commission of Fine Arts — a panel composed entirely of Trump appointees — is scheduled to review a presentation on the arch on April 16.
Kathryn Watson contributed to this report.