Crazy Horse Memorial

Vast unfinished mountain carving and Native American cultural complex north of Custer.

Crazy Horse Memorial is hard to take in at a glance. The mountain carving is still unfinished, but even in its incomplete state the face, arm outline, and scale of the work dominate the valley north of Custer.

The visit is not only about the carving. The complex includes the Indian Museum of North America, a cultural centre, films, and viewing terraces that explain the long-running project and the debate around it. It is expensive compared with many public sites in the Black Hills, but it is one of the region's defining stops.

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A story
Lakota leader Henry Standing Bear invited sculptor Korczak Ziolkowski to carve Crazy Horse in the Black Hills after Mount Rushmore had already put presidents into another mountain. Work began in 1948 and continues without federal funding, which is one reason the memorial remains both impressive and controversial.

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