Mount Rushmore in the USA: photo, description, who is depicted on the mountain, map

This joint creation of nature and man strikes 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 bow before the great personalities who created this country as we know it now.

The idea to create a monument that will remain for centuries has been in the air for a long time. But then this idea seemed impossible.

Doane Robinson, a well-known historian in 1923, voiced the idea of ​​​​creating a monumental structure in the Black Hills to capture the history of the country. He told the stone artist Gutzon Borglum about this. In 1924 Borglum visited this reserve to decide on participation. Mount Rushmore, named in 1885 for the explorer Charles Rushmore, was very beautifully lit by the sun that day from the southeast and dyed 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 layout 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 upcoming work, the sculptor Borglum was 60 years old at that moment.

The first stage was the carving of oval blocks from a monolithic mountain. Dynamite was used to remove excess rock. The charges were laid into 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 workers during construction, then this will be a figure of about 400,000 tons.

At the next stage, holes were drilled in the block of blocks, so that the future head looked like a honeycomb. At the penultimate stage, polishing tools brought their work to perfection. Sculptures of presidents began to emerge from the granite rock.

The work was not without surprises. Thomas Jefferson's head was originally planned to be 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.

This project is remarkable in that dangerous and difficult work has done without tragedy. For a long 14 years, 400 workers were forced to climb and descend 506 steps daily, because the planned height of the statues was about 18 meters.

The figure of each president was opened separately.

The creation of the memorial Gutzon Borglum 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, in March 1941 the memorial was declared completed.

By the way, while in the USA, be sure to visit Times Square. Read more about this place in our article.

Mysteries, myths and cinema

Mount Rushmore is a favorite of directors. As scenery, she appears on the main stages of about 50 films and cartoons. In the movie The Peacemaker, the mountain was the target of a terrorist bombing. On Disaster Day 2, Washington's face falls from the temperature. In the animated series Jackie Chan Adventures, the main character finds a magical talisman there.

In this mountain, her main inspirer wanted, but did not have time 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, accessible only to presidents, or the entrance to the Golden City, created by the Indians at a time when no one 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 the idea of ​​creating busts of the great leaders of the American people, who, by their example of serving the people, won the love of the whole nation. The original version of the memorial, which was Gutzon Borglum's dream, is located in the sculptor's workshop, on the territory of the memorial that exists to this day.

A beautiful view of the mountain with sculptures of the presidents opens from the observation deck, to which the Alley of Flags leads. It is full of flags of all the states of the country, which are arranged in alphabetical order.

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For tourists, several types of excursions are organized here. A 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, such excursions are held every day.

In the sculptor's studio, you will be introduced to the tools used to create each figure, with the stories of the workers who participated in the construction.

In the evening at 21:00, a memorial staff member will perform in front of the audience gathered in the amphitheater. Next on the program is a film screening. The program ends with the lighting ceremony of the sculptures.

Climbing the sculptures is prohibited, but there are many climbing routes on other slopes.

The facilities on the territory of the memorial are open all year round, seven days a week, with the exception of December 25th. The center, where you can find out about tour times 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 on your own

The city of Rapid City, located 36 km from Mount Rushmore, can be reached by plane, by bus, by 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 mountains of the Black Hills Reserve.

You can also get to the destination by taxi directly from the airport.

Pleasant impressions!

PS In addition to historical monuments, America is interesting for its skyscrapers: Empire State Building and Trump World Tower