Esra Akcan

Professor of Architecture

Esra Akcan, is a Cornell University professor of architecture whose research explores how buildings, monuments and public spaces reflect political power and social priorities.

Akcan says:

“Among the vocabulary of architectural symbols, the triumphal arch has become one of the most easily communicated references to the Ancient Roman Empire and imperial ambitions.

“During the rise of fascism in Germany and Italy in the 1930s, triumphal arches or their modern appropriations were used to signify war victories and one-man rule. Such projects were meant to transform Berlin and Rome into settings for the fascist state, with the regimes casting themselves as heirs to the Roman Empire. The arches, in turn, symbolized white supremacy and ambitions to colonize neighboring lands, as well as territories in Africa and Asia. 

“It is unfortunate that triumphal arches are being reappropriated today, when a leader uses his position and tax money to build a monument that signifies a similar will-to-power and probably fulfills his own ego, rather than public service. It is not a good sign when countries habitually associated with democracy use architectural tactics from the authoritarian playbook and when they breach the laws and violate the construction procedures of their own legal systems.”

Mike Fontaine

Professor of Classics

Mike Fontaine, is a Cornell professor of classics and the director of the Program on Freedom and Free Societies.

Fontaine says:

“The triumphal arch isn't simply a decorative gateway. It's an architecture of military victory and political legitimacy. That raises an obvious historical question about Trump's proposed arch: what victory, exactly, does it commemorate?

“The Romans developed monumental arches during the Republic (i.e. democracy) to honor successful commanders and public achievements. Under the Empire (i.e. authoritarianism, monarchy), though, military glory increasingly became the emperor’s monopoly. The arch turned the temporary spectacle of a victory parade into a permanent feature of the city, so long after the event was over, everyone still had to move through the ruler’s version of history.

“The founders of the United States consciously borrowed the political and architectural vocabulary of the Roman Republic, but they were much more wary of the imagery of Roman emperors and military triumphators. There is surely a reason why they didn't choose to commemorate the American Revolution by imitating imperial Rome or Napoleonic France.

“More seriously, and ironically, this arch will commemorate the 250th anniversary of a republic by means of an architectural form closely associated with emperors, military conquest, and the projection of centralized power.”