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Free Traveling Guides » States » South Dakota » Black Hills Crazy Horse Memorial
Crazy Horse Memorial, situated in the Black Hills of South Dakota, just 17 miles (27 km) southwest of Mount Rushmore, is the world’s largest mountain sculpture in progress. This spectacular mountain monument is being carved out of Thunderhead Mountain, in the form of Crazy Horse, an Oglala Lakota warrior, riding a horse and pointing into a distance. The Thunderhead Mountain, located between Custer and Hill City, is considered sacred by the Native Americans. The Monument’s final dimensions are expected to be 641 feet (195 m) wide and 563 feet (172 m) high.
The Crazy horse Monument has been in progress since 1948, when the project of mountain carving was started by sculptor Korczak Ziolkowski at the request of Lakota Chief Henry Standing Bear and other Native American elders. The Crazy Horse Memorial Visitor Complex also features the Indian Museum of North America, a 40,000 square-foot (3700 sq. m.) Welcome Center, theaters, the sculptor’s log home studio & workshop, museum gift shop, indoor & outdoor galleries, an expansive viewing veranda, restaurant, snack bar areas, and the Native American Educational & Cultural Center. At present, the entire memorial complex is owned and managed by the Crazy Horse Memorial Foundation.
The Memorial is a non-profit undertaking and receives no state or federal funding. A number of Native American cultural events and educational programs are organized by the Foundation every year in order to raise funds. ‘Volksmarch’ is hosted by the Memorial every year in June. This is the only time when the public is allowed onto the mountain. The Crazy Horse Memorial has always been in controversies but it still attracts nearly one million people annually.
- Address: 202 Avenue of the Chiefs,
Crazy Horse, SD 57730
- Telephone: (605) 673-4681
- Winter Hours: 8 AM - 5 PM daily
- Summer Hours: The Memorial opens at 7 a.m. during the summer months and closes after the nightly "Legends in Light" laser-light multimedia program, which runs Memorial Day weekend through Native American Day.
- Website: www.crazyhorse.org
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