WASHINGTON—The U.S. Commission of Fine Arts on Thursday approved the design for the triumphal arch that President Donald Trump wants built at an entrance to the nation's capital, a key step in the project's process.
“The building is beautiful,” the commission's chairman, Rodney Mims Cook Jr., said shortly before the vote on a design revised slightly from what was presented to the federal agency in April.
The designs call for an ivory-colored arch modeled on the Roman Arch of Titus from classical antiquity and resembling the Arc de Triomphe in Paris.
It comes complete with an array of golden fixtures, most notably a towering 60-foot statue on top that resembles the Statue of Liberty with angel wings. She is flanked by two 24-foot eagle statues.
Two phrases from the national Pledge of Allegiance—"ONE NATION UNDER GOD" and "LIBERTY AND JUSTICE FOR ALL"—would be inscribed on each side of arch. Other design elements include four golden lion statues.
A public observation deck on top would provide 360-degree views of the surroundings.
The arch—meant to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the United States this year—would be built at a site currently occupied by an empty traffic circle. It is located between the Lincoln Memorial and the entrance to Arlington National Cemetery, the military cemetery where around 430,000 individuals have been buried since the Revolutionary War.
Preliminary surveys and testing of the site began last week.
Trump and his interior secretary, Doug Burgum, have argued that Washington is the only major Western world capital without such an arch. Burgum's department includes the National Park Service, which manages the plot where Trump wants to put the arch.
The president has said some of his other projects, such as adding a blue coating to the interior of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, will beautify the city in time for July 4 celebrations of America’s 250th birthday.