English: Standing just inside (north) of the Schley Gate, the northern of the two ceremonial gates at the entrance to Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia, in the United States. I'm looking west at what is the back wall of the Hemicycle, which now houses the Women in Military Service to America Memorial. A set of steps leads up along the stone wall to the rampart atop the Hemicycle.

The gates were constructed in 1932 as part of the construction of the Hemicycle (now the Women in Military Service to America Memorial) and Memorial Drive, which linked Arlington's new main gate to the Arlington Memorial Bridge and the George Washington Memorial Parkway. Arlington had expanded toward the Potomac River, making the old McClellan Gate and Sheridan Gate unuseable as an entrance as both were now deep inside the cemetery. Each gate consists of four granite pillars trending southwest-to-northeast. The southwesternmost pillar connects with the retaining wall that forms the Hemicycle. The gate itself is between the second and third pillars, while black wrought iron fences connect the outermost pillars to the innermost ones. A fifth pillar is set inward toward Memorial Drive from the northwesternmost pillar, and is connected to the fourth pillar by a black wrought iron fence. The two innermost pillars are topped by granite eagles, while the other three are topped by decorative funeral urns.

The the northwesternmost inner pillar is shown here. It is pierced with an archway, to permit pedestrian access when the gates are closed to vehicular traffic. The concrete eagle atop the pillar is visible.

Gold gilded lamps top the hinge of each gate. On each gate, front and back, are two gold wreaths 30 inches (76 cm) in diameter. Each wreath cradles the shield of the U.S. Department of War (the precusor to the U.S. Department of Defense) as well as the armed services that existed in 1932. On the Schley Gate, these are the United States Navy and United States Coast Guard. (The United States Air Force did not exist until 1947.) Each gate is divided into 13 sections by wrought iron fasces, and above six of the sections are iron spikes topped by gold stars.

By the 1980s, the Hemicycle was in serious disrepair. It had never been used for any ceremonial purpose, and Arlington officials largely ignored it. . In 1988, the National Capital Memorial Commission, the National Capital Planning Commission, and the United States Commission of Fine Arts approved the use of the Hemicycle as a site for the Women in Military Service for America Memorial. Groundbreaking occurred on June 22, 1995. The Memorial was dedicated on October 18, 1997, and officially opened to the public two days later.