Double Arch

Double Arch in Arches National Park, Utah, is one of the most recognisable natural formations in the Moab area. The sandstone formation consists of two massive arches sharing the same end, creating a huge open chamber of red rock in the Windows Section of the park. Its scale, shape and desert surroundings give it a dramatic adventure-film quality, which makes it especially easy to understand why it was chosen for one of cinema’s most famous archaeologist-adventure openings.

Double Arch is best known from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989), where it appears during the prologue with young Indiana Jones, played by River Phoenix. The film uses several locations in Arches National Park and the wider Moab area for the 1912 Utah sequence, turning the real landscape into the place where Indy’s obsession with archaeology, danger and stolen artefacts begins. Double Arch is one of the clearest and most recognisable formations in this part of the film.

In Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989), Double Arch appears in the opening sequence after young Indy discovers treasure hunters removing the Cross of Coronado. The area around the arch is used as part of the desert landscape where he tries to escape with the artefact, before the chase continues across other Utah and Colorado locations. The scale of Double Arch gives the scene a strong adventure tone, making the natural formation feel like the entrance to a lost world even though it is part of a real national park landscape.

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