(AFP) – Work is set to begin in Washington this month on an enormous arch proposed by President Donald Trump, a US official announced Thursday, signaling rapid advancement on a project that has raised hackles across the capital. The planned structure, a 250-foot (76-meter) triumphal white arch with large golden statues of an angel and eagles at the top, is part of Trump’s drive to put his personal stamp on the capital.
“We are preparing to start, over the next two-week period, the excavation work necessary for the Great Triumphal Arch,” slated for a grassy circle between the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington National Cemetery, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said. He said in a post on X that the arch was destined to be “one of the Great Pieces of American Architecture, honoring the history and significance of Arlington Cemetery and befitting the most powerful Capital in the World.”
The location, in the grassy middle of a traffic circle on an island in the Potomac River, has stirred controversy because the Trump administration has not sought congressional input for such a major change to the US capital. Given its massive size, it would interrupt the sight lines between the Lincoln Memorial, one of Washington’s iconic landmarks, and Arlington National Cemetery, the final resting place for hundreds of thousands of American servicemembers.
Since his return to power in January 2025, Trump has launched a series of renovation projects, several of which have led to multiple legal disputes. They include a massive and costly ballroom that is being built at the White House, for which Trump had an entire wing of the presidential mansion demolished.
Another project is the laborious renovation of the Reflecting Pool, the 2,028-foot rectangular water basin on the National Mall. For a time, Trump also had his name placed on the walls of the Kennedy Center, the culture and arts institute named after assassinated president John F. Kennedy. A judge ordered that Trump’s name be removed, but the facade is still shielded by a tarp, and the venue’s board has voted to include his name in a different way.
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