Crazy Horse Memorial

Crazy Horse Memorial

Crazy Horse Memorial, massive memorial sculpture being carved from Thunderhead Mountain, in the Black Hills of South Dakota, U.S. It depicts the Lakota leader Crazy Horse.

In 1939 Chief Henry Standing Bear wrote to the Polish sculptor Korczak Ziółkowski and asked if he would create a monument to honor Native Americans. That request sparked what would become one of the largest and, at times, most controversial memorial projects in the United States. Ziółkowski’s vision, which his family has perpetuated, was for a sculpture of Crazy Horse, who was among the warriors who fought under Sitting Bull at the Battle of the Little Bighorn (1876), where Colonel George Armstrong Custer and his men were killed; about 50 Lakota and Northern Cheyenne also died. Ziółkowski and members of the Lakota tribe chose the location of Thunderhead Mountain, but some Lakota are offended at their sacred ground being destroyed. The Crazy Horse Memorial, which on its completion will be the largest in the world, is being carved from the mountainside with a series of controlled explosions.

The site also encompasses a visitor center, a museum documenting Native American history, and a university. The complex is owned by the Crazy Horse Memorial Foundation.