US President Donald Trump on Monday said he wants a “triumphal arch” like the India Gate in Washington, DC, to mark the 250th anniversary of American independence this year.
Posting an image of India Gate on his social media platform Truth Social, Trump wrote on Monday, “India’s beautiful triumphal arch; ours will be the greatest of all.”
Trump has been toying with the idea of an Independence Arch, which is proposed to be 250-foot-tall. To compare, India Gate stands 138 feet high. It will tower over the White House near the Potomac River and will be twice the height of the iconic Lincoln Memorial, said reports. It is expected to be built on a small plot of land between the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington National Cemetery.
Though the earlier versions of the Independence Arch included 165-foot and 123-foot designs, he has become interested in the largest option. A source quoted by The Washington Post said Trump justifies the 250-foot-tall structure, citing the 250th Independence anniversary.
However, experts have warned against the size of the monument, saying it would distort the purpose of the memorials surrounding the new structure.
India Gate is not the only monument that has caught Trump’s eye. He had earlier cited the 164-foot-tall Arc de Triomphe in Paris as a model.
