Arch 22, Triumphal arch in Banjul, Gambia

Arch 22 is a 35-metre commemorative arch on the Banjul-Serrekunda Highway at the intersection with Box Bar Road, Independence Drive and Marina Parade. It stands on eight columns and has three floors, reached by several elevators and spiral staircases. The second-floor gallery looks over the Banjul seaport and the Tanbi Wetland Complex mangroves, and a small textile museum occupies the top floor.

The structure was built in 1996 to commemorate the military coup of July 22, 1994, when President Yahya Jammeh came to power. The date embedded in its name reflects this pivotal moment in the country's recent past.

The top floor holds a small textile museum, not an ethnographic collection. The arch itself is depicted on the back of the 100-dalasis banknote, and near its base stands a statue of an unknown soldier with a rifle on his back, carrying a baby and making a V-sign.

Access to the upper floors is by several elevators and spiral staircases; the first floor sits at an intermediate level among the columns. The second-floor gallery gives a panorama over Banjul down to the sea port and the mangrove forests of the Tanbi Wetland Complex. The top floor holds a small textile museum.

The arch appears on the back of the 100-dalasis banknote, so the structure visitors photograph is also the image Gambians carry in their wallets. The unknown soldier at its base has a rifle strapped to his back, holds a baby in one hand and makes a V-sign with the other.