The United States Commission of Fine Arts gave the go-ahead on Thursday for President Donald Trump’s 250-foot Triumphal Arch, which will be located near Arlington National Cemetery in Washington, D.C., to go forward.
There were some slight modifications to theoriginal designsubmitted to the entity last month based on input from some of the commissioners at a later meeting.
“While the arch remains 250 feet tall in the revised design, the overall height of the structure shrank with the removal of an eight-foot-tall base that had been included in a previous version presented to the Commission of Fine Arts, an agency that advises the president and Congress on design plans for monuments, memorials, coins and federal buildings,”CNNreported.
“Four gold lions that had previously adorned the side of the arch along the base have also been removed – a change the CFA had pushed for given that lions are ‘not native to the United States,’” CNN further noted.
The commission’s vice chairperson, architect James McCrery II, had said when the CFA reviewed the plans that he would prefer the winged Lady Liberty statue to be removed from the top, as well,WRC-TVreported.
HAPPENING NOW: President Trump reacts live to the Commission of Fine Arts approving his design for a new monument in Washington, D.C., confirming plans for an arch near Arlington National Cemetery.
“We’re building what’s called the Triumphal Arch. Right opposite the Arlington…pic.twitter.com/tG49izvN53
— Fox News (@FoxNews)May 21, 2026
But Nicolas Charbonneau, a director at Harrison Design, which drew up the blueprints, told commissioners on Thursday that Trump considered removing the statue “but elected not to pursue such an option” because he wants the arch to celebrate America and the living, WRC-TV added.
Trump celebrated the news of the CFA’s decision after a reporter at the White House told him the commission had greenlit the project.
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