ST. LOUIS — Buildings across the country, and across St. Louis, are being lit up in the colors of Ukraine’s flag to demonstrate solidarity with the Ukrainian people. A picture of the Gateway Arch lit up in blue and yellow is being shared on social media, already reaching thousands of people on Facebook.
A 5 On Your Side viewer, Tracy, asked the VERIFY team to look into the image. She said it “seemed too perfect.”
THE QUESTION
Has the Gateway Arch been lit up in the colors of the Ukrainian flag?
THE SOURCES
- A spokesperson for the Gateway Arch Park Foundation
- Jeremy Sweat, superintendent of the Gateway Arch National Park
- And TinEye, a reverse image search tool
THE ANSWER
The Gateway Arch has not been lit up in the colors of Ukraine’s flag, and the shared photo is a colorized version of a stock image.
WHAT WE FOUND
Using TinEye, the VERIFY team found the original image. The angle of the buildings, the lit windows and the reflections in the Mississippi River are all identical. The only difference is the color of the Arch.
The spokesperson for the Gateway Arch Park Foundation wrote in a statement that “the Gateway Arch has not been lit blue and yellow and that any photos depicting so are doctored.”
Normally, the national monument is lit with white light only. Park Superintendent Jeremy Sweat told VERIFY's Anne Allred that “park policy does not allow for commemorative lighting of the Gateway Arch.”
Sweat added that the park receives many requests to light the Arch in different colors for different causes: more requests than they can possibly fulfill. The policy ensures the park doesn’t have to choose some issues or causes over others.
It would take action in Washington, D.C. to change the Arch’s commemorative lighting policy.
U.S. Representative Ann Wagner, R-Mo., has started that process. She introduced the Gateway Solidarity Act on March 8. The legislation would allow the National Park Service to illuminate the Arch in the colors of the Ukrainian flag. Unless that passes, the Arch’s lights remain white.
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