Trump’s Washington arch plan includes golden winged figure, eagles, lions and ‘One Nation Under God’
Apr 10, 2026, 12:03 PM | Updated: 11:24 pm
Cranes being used to construct the new White House ballroom are seen around the White House, Saturday, April 4, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
Credit: ASSOCIATED PRESS
(AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s plans for a new triumphal arch in the capital, unveiled on Friday, include a towering winged figure with a Lady Liberty-like torch and crown, flanked by two eagles and guarded by four lions — all gilded.
The 12-page plan released by the U.S. Commission on Fine Arts shows the arch will stand 250 feet tall from its base to the tip of the winged figure’s torch, with “One Nation Under God” and “Liberty and Justice for All” inscribed in gold atop either side of the monument.
The plan indicates the structure would stand between the Lincoln Memorial in the east and Arlington National Cemetery toward the west and within a traffic circle connecting Washington with northern Virginia.
Trump has said he wants to build the arch near the Lincoln Memorial and argued that the nation’s capital first sought such a monument 200 years ago.
“It was interrupted by a thing called the Civil War, and so it never got built,” Trump said in February. “Then, they almost built something in 1902, but it never happened.”
Trump has said that major cities around the world have such monuments, and Washington is the only one without one.
