Crazy Horse Memorial

On the final day of our Cowboy Country tour, we got to see two of South Dakota's amazing sculptural projects. First, we stopped to see Crazy Horse Memorial, I had never heard of this beautiful piece of artwork before and I am surprised it's not as well known as Mount Rushmore, it is stunning, even though it's not yet finished.

These beautiful gates are right outside the Crazy Horse Visitor's Center, they were designed by Korczak Ziolkowski, the sculptor of Crazy Horse Memorial. 219 animals are represented on the gates and are all indigenous to South Dakota (past and present)

The Crazy Horse Memorial is a mountain monument under construction in the Black Hills of South Dakota. It will depict the Oglala Lakota warrior, Crazy Horse, riding a horse and pointing into the distance. The memorial was commissioned by Henry Standing Bear, a Lakota elder, to be sculpted by Polish-American sculpter, Korczak Ziolkowski. Korczak started the memorial in 1948, and worked on it for the rest of his life, and after he passed away in 1982, his wife oversaw the project. She passed away in 2014 and some of their children now are in charge of it. It is a non-profit undertaking, and it was important to them to not use any federal or state funding. It is financed by admissions to see the monument/museums, and contributions.

The memorial is to be the centerpiece of an educational and cultural center. The foundation also provides scholarships for Native American students

This is a model of what the complete sculpture will look like, the real sculpture is in the background.

 The monument is being carved out of Thunderhead Mountain, on land considered sacred by some Oglala Lakota, between Custer and Hill City, roughly 17 miles from Mount Rushmore. The sculpture's final dimensions are planned to be 641 feet long and 563 feet high. The arm of Crazy Horse will be 263 feet long and the head 87 feet high; by comparison, the heads of the four U.S. Presidents at Mount Rushmore are each 60 feet high.

The monument has been in progress since 1948 and is far from completion. If completed as designed, it will become the world's second tallest statue, after the Statue of Unity in India.

There are lots of photos of the progress of the statue around the visitors center.

This picture is fascinating, it is a long exposure photograph of several blasts they did in 2016.

We had lunch at the Laughing Water Cafe which is on the Crazy Horse Memorial campus.

Several of us ordered the Native American Tacos, and they are do delicious, one of the best Native American Tacos I have ever had.

After lunch we had quite a bit of free time to explore the museums and gift shops and watch some of the presentations done in front of the memorial. I opted to watch some of the Native American dance demonstrations.

We learned all about the Native American Hoop Dance, which I hadn't ever seen or heard of before. It is a symbolic and traditional dance using different hoops to create many different shapes during the dance.

We first learned about the dancing tradition, then our presenter went through a couple of steps of creating hoop wings with some of the audience members. The movements with the hoops are so complex it's amazing how they create the different shapes.

Then she showed us a couple examples of the full dances. they are beautiful.

There are usually 28 hoops used in the hoop dance, and they symbolize "a prayer that the promised renewal of the collective human spirit will accelerate and that we will all find our place in one great hoop made up of many hoops." The hoops symbolize the "never-ending cycle of life," having no beginning and no end.

Next, we toured through The Indian Museum. The Indian Museum of North America is home to a large collection of art and artifacts reflecting the diverse histories and cultures of over 300 Native Nations.  The Museum, designed to complement the story being told in stone on the Mountain, presents the lives of American Indians and preserves Native Culture for future generations.

The exhibits on the intricate beadwork were my favorite

The original log home or “Big Room” as it is lovingly referred to by the Ziolkowski children, grandchildren and great grandchildren is still used for family functions. Korczak lived in a tent for the first seven months of construction. He hand cut trees for a log cabin and studio home that was so well-built that it remains as part of the visitor's complex to this day. Korczak, always unique in his approach to building, used log beams 70 feet long and built a 30-foot skylight into the home, to be able to see the Mountain. 

Also, always one to think ahead, in anticipation of a time when the curious would come to visit and observe the progress at the Mountain, he filled the home with his collection of antiques from his West Hartford, Connecticut home and works of sculpture.  The sculptor's home also features a collection of original pieces created by Korczak himself; comprising of the horse's head that he carved in 9 days, Old Pagan, Polish Eagle and many people he admired.

This fluffy kitty roams the memorial campus, but is most often found curled up, napping in this chair in the log room. The chair is behind a rope, so he is out of reach of visitors, the perfect sleeping spot.

Our last stop was at the gift shop. I have always loved Native American Art, it is so beautiful and so rich in symbolism. I bought this unique teepee style dream catcher as a memento from visiting such a fascinating place.