Behold: the proposed new Independence Arch (a.k.a. Arc de Trump) to be erected on a traffic circle at the Virginia side of Washington’s Arlington Memorial Bridge. It would bestride an axis between the Lincoln Memorial and the formal entrance to Arlington National Cemetery. At 250 feet tall it is about 100 feet higher than France’s Arc de Triomphe in Paris.
President Trump has a thing for grandiose gestures on the landscape and we’ll forego an exegesis on the interplay between his love of country and the psychology of his personal branding — it’s too obvious to belabor.
Does the nation’s capital need or deserve such a new monument? The nation’s 250th birthday is coming up. That’s at least an excuse to memorialize something. But the District of Columbia is getting overstuffed with war memorials and new museums of this-and-that. The imperial gloss is getting to be overdone.
There is also the regular city of Washington DC in-and-around all the rich monumentalism, a busy matrix of people coming-and-going, and the new arch raises some practical considerations. Paris’s Arc de Triomphe occupies the center of the gigantic Place de l’Étoile, a star-shaped convergence of twelve major avenues. The circular roadway around the Arc is a demolition derby of automobile traffic. The traffic circle on the Virginia side is tiny in comparison, and has only one road, South Arlington Boulevard, coming off it.
Now, the rendering of the Arc de Trump (top picture) shows a grand stairway on each side and human figures moiling about under the arch. Where are those visitors supposed to park their cars? There’s no mention of an adjoining parking lot — and wouldn’t that be a scar on the landscape, anyway? Also, some sort of traffic signal would be required to get the visitors across the circle’s roadway? The whole point of a traffic circle is to eschew traffic lights that would halt the circulation of vehicles. From a practical standpoint, the proposal looks kind of janky.
Finally, there is the statue on top, a 60-foot tall gilded, winged figure of “Lady Liberty.” Granted, such statuary is within the tradition of monumental arches generally. . . but is this one maybe a little much? Reminds me of the super-sized American flags flown outside fast food franchises — as if Americans are too dumb to remember what country they are in, and need to be forcefully reminded.
On the whole, I admire Mr. Trump’s performance as chief executive of the US government. Perhaps the erection of giant monuments should be left to posterity, after we’ve had some time to evaluate what is just now happening in our land.
Eyesore of the Month is sponsored by Sage Restoration.
I support the Arc de Trump so the TDS crowd has to look at it forever and ever.
Make it bigger with more gold.
I like it. Triumph. Lady Liberty. Tradition. Historical. Stick in the eye to the communists.