Bronze statues near the National Mall got a multi-million-dollar makeover.
The Arts of War statues were covered in nearly 24-karat gold leaf in a project that cost $5.1 million. The project includes work on a second pair of statues nearby.
Once a darker gold, the equestrian figures now gleam in bright gold.
Near the statues on Friday morning, News4 heard from fans of the work and those who questioned the Trump administration’s spending of taxpayer dollars.
“It looks like it was overlayed with actual gold. I really do, I like it,” said Al Spruill, who works in D.C.
NBC Washington
NBC Washington
“For tourists, it seems like a nice opening to the city,” said Goal Rigneker, who was visiting from the Netherlands.
“Let’s put our money into stuff that we need instead of, like, repainting a statue that didn’t need to be repainted,” Virginia resident Nardos Fenta said. “It looks cheap. Yeah, it’s not pretty. It’s not cute.”
“I think I preferred them the way they were before,” Sharlaine Anapu, a D.C. resident, said.
The statues were a gift to the U.S. from Italy in the 1950s. An image from the National Park Service shows how they previously looked.
(Credit: National Park Service)
The project was green-lit by the Park Service in April. The cost includes a makeover for the Arts of Peace sculptures nearby. Work on that pair of statues is ongoing, and they remain covered.
