A huge sculpture of Crazy Horse, a famed Native American leader, may soon be completed after over 70 years of development and work.
Once completed, it will be one of the largest monuments in the world.
The unfinished monument sits on the granite peak of Thunderhead Mountain in the US state of South Dakota, not far from the famous Mount Rushmore which depicts the heads of five famous US presidents.
In 1948, sculptor Korczak Ziolkowski began developing and building the project. He saw it as fitting that a Native American should be memorialised in a part of the world that they had controlled for thousands of years before the arrival of Western settlers. He had been first proposed the idea by Native American chief Standing Bear, who convinced him of the project and its historical importance.
Working alone, the sculptor set up a staircase over 700 steps high and began the painstaking task without water or electricity. As the years passed, Ziolkowski continued the project, eventually being supported by 7 of his 10 children.
After 34 years of work, Ziolkowski died in 1982 leaving the project to be continued by others. So dedicated was the sculptor he was buried at the foot of the monument, leaving behind to his family the words:
"Go slowly, so you do it right."
Now with more hands-on-deck and considerably more funding the project has once again taken off and it is hoped that it will be completed soon.
Once finished, it will be 563ft (171.60m) tall and 641ft (195.38m) long, that's almost four times taller than the Statue of Liberty.
In order to help finance the project, a museum has been established at the site which garners more than 40,000 visitors a year and brings in $12.5 million in admission and donations annually.
The creation of a museum has led to some criticism that the project and monument is now being commercialised, but many hope that it will be the key to finally finishing what could become one of the great wonders of the modern world.
[h/t: The Mind Unleashed]
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