The Crazy Horse Memorial is being carved out of Thunderhead Mountain located between Hill City and Custer, only a short distance from Mount Rushmore. The finished monument will reach 563 feet high.
The sculpture was started in 1948 by Korczak Ziolkowski, who had previously worked on the Mount Rushmore Monument. In 1939, Chief Henry Standing Bear commissioned the sculptor to carve a dedication to Native Americans.
While there is no definite completion date, the Crazy Horse Memorial has continued to be carved even after Ziolkowski's death in 1982. The face of Crazy Horse was completed and dedicated in 1998. When completed, it will be the world's largest sculpture.
All of the money for the construction of the monument is from donations. On two occasions, the federal government offered $10 million to assist in the completion of the monument, however, it has been repeatedly declined.
There is a number of controversies revolving around the Crazy Horse Memorial. The most notably of these is that very few photographs of Crazy Horse exist. In addition, he was buried in an unmarked grave, making the likelihood that the image is actually that of the warrior unlikely.
