At a White House meeting with donors for his ballroom expansion project last Wednesday, President Trump unveiled models for a triumphal arch to be erected in Washington, DC. The proposed arch would stand across from the Lincoln Memorial and welcome visitors leaving Arlington National Cemetery, ostensibly in commemoration of the 250th anniversary of American independence next year. (The arch will reportedly be paid for using leftovers from Trump’s $250 million ballroom fund.) Although officially called the “Independence Arch,” the nickname “Arc de Trump” has taken hold, referencing a strong resemblance to the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. Trump’s proposed arch is the latest development in the history of the infamously imperialistic architectural form, which stretches back to Roman antiquity. It also continues his fascination with neoclassical architecture and material attempts to draw connections between himself and the emperors and military generals of Ancient Rome.
News of the proposed arch only began to emerge on October 9, when a model first appeared on Trump’s Oval Office desk. But on September 4, architect Nicolas Leo Charbonneau shared a viral tweet with the phrase “America needs a triumphal arch!” and an artistic rendering of the structure with a winged statue of the goddess Victory — later referred to by Trump as “Lady Liberty” — flanked by two eagles. Charbonneau’s design firm, Sacred Architecture Studio at Harrison Design, specializes in the use of neoclassical architecture for religious buildings. In an interview with the Catholic Herald last year, Charbonneau noted that his firm is “founded on principles that align with the teaching of the Catholic Church.”
Though details are still murky, what is clear are the origins of the triumphal arch. Archaeologists and art historians have identified over 800 freestanding Roman arches across the former Roman Empire. The form was developed during the Roman Republic, almost 200 years before the first Roman emperor, Augustus, came to power. The most popular reason for erecting a freestanding arch was to commemorate a major military victory known as a Roman triumph, the highest military accolade for a conquering general. The word itself comes from the Latin arcus (“arch”), but when the structures emerged in the 2nd century BCE, Romans called them fornices. A general named Lucius Stertinius, who had three constructed following his campaigns in Hispania Ulterior (a region in present-day Spain), allegedly used 50,000 pounds of silver of his own money to have them built. Eventually, over 50 such arches dotted the landscape of the Eternal City by the end of Roman antiquity, often serving as symbols of Roman military supremacy and provincial subjugation.
The Arch of Titus on the Upper Via Sacra in Rome, Italy (photo by Carole Raddato, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Flickr)
While not all arches commemorated the achievement of a Roman triumph, many did. Augustus had a triumphal arch voted to him by the Senate during his reign, as did several successive emperors including Septimius Severus and Constantine. Perhaps the best-known Roman arch today is the Arch of Titus at the entrance to the Forum, near the Colosseum. Then-Emperor Domitian had the arch built beginning in 81 CE to commemorate the achievements of his deceased brother, Titus, who destroyed the Second Temple at Jerusalem. Titus enslaved thousands of Jewish people and brought them to Rome during his father’s reign, likely to help build the Colosseum. The relief of the menorah being pillaged from the Second Temple is perhaps the most famous relief on a Roman triumphal arch, and was later used as a model for the Israeli state’s emblem not long after the occupation of Palestine began. It also has an eagle carrying Titus to heaven in apotheosis at the apex of the arch, with the goddess victory on the spandrels.
Into the 4th century CE and the creation of the Arch of Constantine in 315 CE, it was still standard protocol to receive the imprimatur of the Senate before beginning construction. Many arches bore an inscription celebrating the Senatus Populusque Romanus (“Senate and Roman People”) and noting it had been voted by the Senate to the emperor. Even many centuries later, the arch continued to represent imperialism and grant prestige to the victorious general, whether or not it was formally stated. Plans for the Arc de Triomphe at the end of the Champs-Elysées in Paris indicate that the structure was based in part on the Arch of Titus and the Arch of Constantine at Rome and created at Napoleon’s behest. Although officially dedicated to the victories of France’s Grande Armée, the first stones were laid down on the French emperor’s birthday, August 15, 1806.
Alfred Bastien’s “Canadians Passing in Front of the Arc de Triomphe” (c. 1919), a painting of Canadian troops on parade under the Red Ensign at Paris’s Arc de Triomphe, part of an Allied victory parade on July 14, 1919 (image public domain via the Canadian War Museum, Toronto, Canada)
There are a number of iconic triumphal arches in the United States today. The most recognizable is arguably the Washington Square Arch, which serves as a symbol of Greenwich Village in New York City. The arch was built in 1892 to commemorate George Washington’s centennial. Across the country, arches commemorate everything from veterans to peace. But their official symbolism often contradicts their historical reality. The Millennium Gate Museum in Atlanta has a 101-foot-tall (~30.8-meter-tall) arch based on the Arch of Titus meant to celebrate peace, despite the fact that Titus killed and enslaved thousands of Jews during the Jewish-Roman War. Triumphal arches maintain their message of autocratic authority most shrewdly when tied to a single, living individual.
Over the course of seven months, Trump has undertaken myriad actions most often associated with monarchies and dictatorships than with democratic republics. His military parade on his birthday in June looked more like a Roman triumph than an anniversary procession. His proposal to mint $1 coins with his face on it for the nation’s upcoming 250th anniversary also appears to be in conflict with the 1866 Coin Act barring a living person from appearing on US currency, securities, and notes. The act was meant to differentiate American coinage from that of governments like Britain, who place their living monarch on coinage. The proposed “Arch de Trump” is also in alignment with his use of Executive Orders to champion neoclassical architecture as a way of returning to the aesthetics of the Founding Fathers.
Triumphal arches carry the memory of the figures they monumentalized and the autocrats who built them. Hitler envisioned one with his head architect, Albert Speer, for his vision of Welthauptstadt Germania. Trump’s plan for the creation of a neoclassical arch near the Lincoln Monument is undoubtedly an attempt to proclaim the president’s own perceived victories. The arch may be thinly cast as a monument to American independence, but one might wish to whisper in Trump’s ear what was said to triumphing Roman generals in their parade: “Memento mori.” Remember that you are a man and not a god.
