This joint creation of nature and man amazes the imagination with its grandeur. Only natural disasters can erase this memory. And how many secrets and conjectures around this monument ?!
History of the creation of the monument
The people of the United States of America honor their history and admire the great personalities who created this country as we know it today.
The idea to create a monument that will remain for centuries has been hovering for a long time. But then this idea seemed impossible.
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Doan Robinson, a renowned historian in 1923, voiced the idea of creating a monumental structure in the Black Hills to capture the history of the country. He told about this to the stone artist Gutzon Borglum. In 1924 Borglum visited this reserve to decide on participation. Mount Rushmore, named in 1885 after the explorer Charles Rushmore, from the southeast was very beautifully illuminated by the sun that day and turned crimson at sunset.
This amazing picture bribed the artist and inspired him to create a memorial. He decided to create a monumental work of art on this mountain.
The sculptor created a model that depicted sculptures of four presidents who made the country outstanding and powerful: George Washington, the first president, Thomas Jefferson, who created the declaration of independence, Abraham Lincoln, who abolished slavery, and Theodore Roosevelt, who fought for the rights of the working class.
In 1927, the most beautiful days of their lives began for many people. They made history. Inspired by the work ahead, the sculptor Borglum was 60 years old at that moment.
The first stage was the carving of oval boulders from the monolithic mountain. Dynamite was used to remove excess rock. The charges were laid in the rock with the most accurate calculation, and all excess granite was removed by specialists. If we weigh all the stone that was transported by the workers during the construction, then this will be a figure of about 400,000 tons.
At the next stage, holes were drilled in the monolith of blocks, so that the future head became like a honeycomb. At the penultimate stage, we used polishing tools to bring our work to perfection. Sculptural images of presidents began to appear in the granite rock.
During the work, there were some surprises. Initially, the head of Thomas Jefferson was planned to the right of George Washington. But after two years of work, cracks began to appear on it. It had to be destroyed and another created to the left of the first president.
The remarkable thing about this project is that dangerous and difficult work was done without tragedy. For 14 long years, 400 workers were forced to climb and descend 506 steps every day, because the planned height of the statues was about 18 meters.
The figure of each president was revealed separately.
The creation of the Gutzon Borglum memorial continued until his death in 1941. In connection with the death of the main inspirer and sculptor, as well as the upcoming participation of the United States in World War II, the memorial was declared completed in March 1941.
By the way, being in the USA, be sure to visit Times Square. - read our article in more detail about this place.
Secrets, myths and movies
Mount Rushmore is very fond of directors. As a set, she appears on the main stages of about 50 films and cartoons. In The Peacemaker, the mountain was the target of a terrorist explosion. On "Catastrophe Day-2," the temperature drops the face of Washington. In the animated series "The Adventures of Jackie Chan", the protagonist finds a magic talisman there.
In this mountain, her main inspirer wanted, but did not manage to make a repository for many American relics. Maybe that's why it is overgrown with secrets.
There is an idea that the mountain was created to store the Book of Secrets, where all the great secrets of the United States are kept, available only to presidents, or the entrance to the Golden City, created by the Indians at a time when no one else in the world knew about the existence of this continent.
For visitors
About 3 million visitors a year come to see this grandiose creation.
Looking at these courageous faces, carved in stone on a cyclopean scale, not everyone knows that the project remained unfinished. Borglum conceived of creating busts of the great leaders of the American people, who, by their example of serving the people, won the love of the entire nation. The original version of the memorial, which was a dream of Gutzon Borglum, is located in the sculptor's workshop, on the territory of the memorial that still exists today.
A beautiful view of the mountain with sculptures of presidents opens from the observation deck, to which the Alley of flags leads. It is replete with flags of all states in the country, which are arranged in alphabetical order.
We also recommend:
- National parks of the USA
- Canyonlands National Park, USA
- Yosemite Park in California, USA
- Zion National Park, USA
- Everglades National Park in the USA
- Yellowstone, USA
- Glacier Park in the USA
- Shiprock rock in the USA
- Mesa Verde in the USA
- Mount Rushmore, USA
- Badlands, USA
Several types of excursions are organized here for tourists. The very nice fact is that they are free. You can take a walk with a ranger along the presidential trail to the foot of the mountain and hear the history of the mountain itself and the creation of the memorial. In summer, these tours are held every day.
In the sculptor's studio, you will be introduced to the tools with which each figure was created, with the stories of the workers who participated in the construction.
In the evening at 21:00, an employee of the memorial will perform in front of the audience gathered in the amphitheater. Further, according to the program, a film screening. The program ends with a lighting ceremony for the sculptures.
Climbing the sculptures is prohibited, but there are many climbing routes on the other slopes.
Objects on the territory of the memorial work all year round seven days a week, with the exception of 25 December. The center, where you can find out about the time of excursions and opening hours, is open from 8:00 to 22:00 from late May to early September and until 17:00 from October to April.
How to get there on your own
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Rapid City, located 36 km from Mount Rushmore, can be reached by plane, bus or train.
In Rapid City, it makes sense to rent a car along Highway 16A, then along Highway 244 you reach your destination with stops along the way for a photo session against the backdrop of the Black Hills Nature Reserve mountains.
You can also get to your destination by taxi directly from the airport.
Enjoy your experience!
P.S. In addition to historical monuments, America is interesting for its skyscrapers: the Empire State Building and the Trump World Tower