Crazy Horse Memorial
크레이지 호스 기념관
The Crazy Horse Memorial is a huge mountain carving under construction in the Black Hills of South Dakota, United States. It is being carved out of Thunderhead Mountain, between the towns of Custer and Hill City, about 27 kilometres from Mount Rushmore. It will show the Oglala Lakota warrior Crazy Horse riding a horse and pointing across his people's land.
See it on the 3D globe →At a glance
- Country
- United States
- Location
- South Dakota, USA
- Built
- 1948–
- Height
- 171 m
- Type
- Monument
Quick answers
Where is Crazy Horse Memorial?
Crazy Horse Memorial is in South Dakota, USA, United States.
A mountain carving of the Lakota leader Crazy Horse, in progress since 1948.
Work began in 1948 and the memorial is far from finished. Its planned final size is about 195 metres long and 172 metres high. The face was completed in 1998 and is 26.7 metres high, taller than the 18-metre heads at Mount Rushmore. The monument sits on private land and is run by the Crazy Horse Memorial Foundation, a non-profit group.
How the memorial began
Henry Standing Bear, a Lakota chief and elder, asked the Polish-American sculptor Korczak Ziolkowski to carve the memorial. In 1931 his brother Luther wrote to Gutzon Borglum, who was carving Mount Rushmore, suggesting a Crazy Horse portrait. Borglum never replied. Henry then looked for another sculptor, and Ziolkowski began work on the mountain in 1948. The mountain is thought sacred by some Oglala Lakota.
More than a carving
The master plan includes the mountain carving, a Native American Museum of North America and a Native American Cultural Center. Crazy Horse was a Lakota war leader who fought against the United States government to protect his people's land and way of life, including the Fetterman Fight (1866) and the Battle of the Little Bighorn (1876). The planned outstretched arm will be 80 metres long.
Fun facts
- Crazy Horse's 27 m-tall face was completed in 1998.
- Crazy Horse's face is 26.7 metres high, taller than each face at Mount Rushmore.
- The finished carving is planned to be 172 metres high.
- Carving began in 1948, more than 75 years ago.
- The monument is built on private land and run by a non-profit foundation.
On the globe
The model shows the mountain carving of Crazy Horse, which is still being carved.
Nearby on the globe
Sources
Updated: 2026-10-14