The president shared a projected date of when the multi-million dollar project will be completed on Friday, June 12
Credit: Aaron Schwartz/CNP/Bloomberg via Getty; truth social
NEED TO KNOW
- President Donald Trump said that the regilding of the four bronze horse statues near the Lincoln Memorial “rapidly continues”
- The president shared several photos from the process along with an update via Truth Social on Friday, June 12
- The National Park Service previously awarded a $5 million contract to a gilding studio in Maryland to repair the four bronze horse statues — the Arts of War and Arts of Peace — and cover them in a thick layer of 23.75-karat gold leaf
President Donald Trump has provided an update on the regilding of bronze horse statues near the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.
Trump, 79, shared the update on the project via Truth Social on Friday, June 12. The $5 million project "rapidly continues" and provided photos of the progress, Trump wrote.
"The sculptures will be fully regilded by July 3rd," Trump wrote. "The photos below were taken yesterday. The Gilders' Studio has flown in Gilders from around the Country to perform this work!"
The photos show several people applying a gold-leaf finish to the statues by hand. The project was undertaken ahead of the nation's 250th anniversary celebration in July.
The National Park Service awarded a $5 million contract in mid-April to a gilding studio in Maryland to repair the four bronze horse statues — the Arts of War and Arts of Peace — and cover them in a thick layer of 23.75-karat gold leaf, according to a NOTUS report published on May 29.
The Department of the Interior, which oversees the National Park Service, awarded the contract without competition, hoping to complete the project by July 4, per the report.
The regilding project is one of many refurbishments the Trump administration has announced in recent months, after he has repeatedly criticized Washington, D.C., as a city. Trump said in a May 27 Cabinet meeting that he plans to repaint the basin of the World War II Memorial's central fountain, which he said was “in pretty bad shape.” The administration also spent $14 million on renovating the Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool.
Credit: truth social
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This week, Trump has also had an arena built behind the White House to host an Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) event on Sunday, June 14, also part of the celebrations for the 250th anniversary of the U.S.
Credit: truth social
Sunday is the U.S. Army's birthday, Flag Day and the president's 80th birthday, though he claims that his birthday falling on the same day as the event is a coincidence.
“They're building a great arena. And June 14, which by happenstance is my birthday. It was not set up that way,” Trump told his daughter-in-law Lara Trump in a Fox News interview last month.
A spokesperson for the Interior Department previously did not return PEOPLE's request for comment on its regilding project.
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