What) The Crazy Horse Memorial is a mountain monument complex that is under construction on privately held land in the Black Hills. It depicts Crazy Horse, an Oglala Lakota warrior, riding a horse and pointing into the distance. The memorial was commissioned by Henry Standing Bear, a Lakota elder, to be sculpted by Korczak Ziolkowski.
The monument is being carved out of Thunderhead Mountain on land considered sacred by some Oglala Lakota. The sculpture's final dimensions are planned to be 641 feet (195 m) wide and 563 feet (172 m) high. The monument has been in progress since 1948 and is far from it's expected completion date in 2120. If completed today it would become the world's largest sculpture. (1)
Sculptor Korczak Ziolkowski began the project 1948. "He believed you can do anything in this world. Nothing is impossible as long as you're willing to work hard enough and pay the price," says the sculptor's wife, Ruth, who is now 86 years old. Her long white hair is tied back, and despite her age, she still oversees all aspects of work on the monument. She and seven of her children took up the project after her husband's death in 1982. By the late 1990s, the face of Crazy Horse had emerged from the mountain carving. The last decade has been spent roughing out the horse's head.
For years the family followed their late father's model exactly. But Monique Ziolkowski, the sculptor's daughter, says the seams and cracks in the rock pose new challenges. "He always said you had to work with Mother Nature because she'll beat you every time. So that's why we're working with the engineers, and we will be putting bolts in for support, but the bulk of the mountain needs to stand on its own," she says. The changes include more rock left in place to support the outstretched arm and the horse's head. Teams of engineers and geologists carefully monitor each blast and help plot the way forward.
All this is paid for through private funding managed by a nonprofit organization. The project uses no tax dollars. Some critics have questioned the snail's pace of the progress. Matriarch Ruth Ziolkowski answers them by quoting her late husband. "He said, 'Go slowly so you do it right.' And, I, for one, would like to have it go faster, but there are so many things that you have to do in order to do it right that it takes the time," she says. (2)
Crazy Horse resisted being photographed during his life and was deliberately buried where his grave would not be found. Ziolkowski envisioned the monument as a metaphoric tribute to the spirit of Crazy Horse and Native Americans. Crazy Horse reportedly said, "My lands are where my dead lie buried." His extended hand on the monument is meant to symbolize that statement.
Other traditional Lakota oppose the memorial. In his 1972 autobiography, Lame Deer, a Lakota medicine man, said: "The whole idea of making a beautiful wild mountain into a statue of him is a pollution of the landscape. It is against the spirit of Crazy Horse." Having the finished sculpture depict Crazy Horse pointing with his index finger has also been criticized. Native American cultures prohibit using the index finger to point at people or objects, as the people find it rude and taboo. Some spokesmen compare the effect to a sculpture of George Washington with an upraised middle finger. (1)
Where) 202 Avenue of the Chiefs Open Daily 8 am - 5 pm 1-605-673-4681
Why) I like
the model of the sculpture. I like the work that has been done
so far. I admire the project's vision. Because of all these
things I would be happy to contribute financially in some
small way
so that the project can continue and eventually be completed.
I am going to make it out to the site and do that at some
point in the future. 
