Find Crazy Horse Monument
Crazy Horse Monument is an enormous and spectacular sculpture-in-progress of Lakota leader, Crazy Horse, featuring a campus commemorating Native American history and culture, located on a Black Hill’s mountaintop.
Overview
When completed, Crazy Horse Monument will be the largest mountain sculpture in the world. The site also features a campus including a museum, Native American Education and Cultural Center, the original sculptor’s studio and home, a restaurant, gift shop, and more.
The talented Boston-born sculptor, Korczak Ziolkowksi, was commissioned by Lakota Chief Henry Standing Bear and his tribe to begin work on Crazy Horse Monument in 1948, after settling on a suitable South Dakota mountaintop, with space for adjacent facilities dedicated to the heritage and culture of North American Indians. Crazy Horse Monument became Korczak’s life work, and although he died in 1982, his wife, children, and a group of engineers continue to work on this gargantuan project. The 87 ½ feet tall face was commemorated in 1998 and work is currently being done on the horse’s head. When finished, the monument will be 641 feet in length and 563 feet in height, depicting “a memorial to the spirit” of Crazy Horse as he points over his horse’s head towards the lands where, in Crazy Horse’s words, his “dead lie buried.”
Location/Directions
Crazy Horse Memorial is located in South Dakota’s Black Hills, just off HWY 16/385, 17 miles southwest of Mt. Rushmore and 4 miles north of Custer.
Crazy Horse Memorial
12151 Avenue of the Chiefs
Crazy Horse, SD 57730-8900
Ph: (605) 673 – 4681
Hours/Season
Summer:
- Mid-May through mid-October
- 8 am - 1 hour past dark
- Legends in Laser light-show begins at dark (starting Memorial weekend).
- Laughing Water restaurant summer closing hours 7 pm (mid-May – Memorial weekend) and 8 pm (Memorial weekend – mid-October).
Winter:
- Mid-October through mid-May
- 8 am – 5 pm
- After 5 pm, monument parking area open until dark.
Fees
Ongoing memorial construction and facilities operation is dependent upon admission fees and generous individual donations – Crazy Horse Memorial receives no federal or state funding.
Admission:
- $10/adults*
- $27/carload*
- Motorcycle - $5/rider
- Walkers/cyclists - $5/each
- Tour/group rates – call (605) 673 - 4681
- Free admission for children under 6, Native Americans, military personnel w/active-duty ID, Girl and Boy Scout troops in uniform, and Custer County, SD residents.
- Memorial and Labor Day admission free for residents of South Dakota, North Dakota, Wyoming, Montana and Nebraska residents. (Food donation requested.)
*Adult price vs. carload price dependent upon best situation for visitor(s).
More Information
There is no set schedule for blasts, however lucky visitors will be notified of such events a few minutes prior and may watch and photograph the explosions.
Leashed pets are also welcomed.
