Designed by Joseph Mangin, architect of New York’s City Hall, the Trophée d’Armes sculpture atop Fort Jay’s Arch on Governors Island is both an artifact from our nation’s founding and a complex work of art. Adorned by a magnificent sandstone eagle, it is the earliest domestically carved military sculpture in the nation, and its imagery appears in military seals, symbols, and heraldry throughout American history.

The structure served as the entrance to an active military fortification for 199 years but remained unseen by the general public until 2006. As a result, the iconic eagle only came to the attention of the larger community of art and architectural historians in the past decade, after suffering two centuries of wind, water, ice and pollution.

Governors Island National Monument participated in Partners in Preservation: National Parks.