The president of the United States has proposed construction of a 250-foot-tall arch in the nation’s capital to commemorate America’s 250th anniversary, and a couple of Archbishop Carroll students have expressed opinions about it.
“I am looking forward to visiting the arch and eager to see the monument,” said freshman Thomas Abraham.
The monument will be a physical representation of feelings about the country.
“An arch is more than stone and steel, it’s a symbol of what a nation chooses to remember, honor, and carry forward into the future,” said freshman Brie Urbanski.
The arch, labeled on mock-ups displayed in October as the Independence Arch but also referred to as the Triumphal Arch, would stand 250 feet tall from the base up to the torch held by a statue of Lady Liberty to represent the 250 years of the nation’s independence from Great Britain. The sides of the arch are planned to feature inscriptions of ‘One Nation Under God” and “Liberty and Justice for All’ in gold. The arch also would have an observation deck, the Associated Press reported in April.
The monument is intended to be built at Memorial Circle on Columbia Island, a man-made island managed by the National Park Service, located on the Virginia side of the Potomac River at the end of Memorial Bridge, near the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., according an April article published by WTTW News of Chicago.
The National Trust for Historic Preservation expressed concerns about the plan, which it said would interrupt the view that connects the National Mall with Arlington National Cemetery, diminish the importance of the Lincoln Memorial because it would be more than twice the size of that structure, and overwhelm the simplicity and solemnity of Arlington National Cemetery. A veterans group that sued to stop construction of the project raised similar concerns in its lawsuit. However, an architect for the project contended the arch would reinforce the link between the nation’s capital and the national cemetery, and the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts approved the concept in mid-April, according to an April story from Spectrum news. The commission will review updated designs and take another vote before construction begins.
