CRAZY HORSE MEMORIAL, S.D. -- A new milestone has been accomplished on the Crazy Horse mountain carving in progress in the Black Hills of South Dakota.
Workers this month completed blocking out the upper half of the 22-story high horse's head on the world's largest sculpture.
Overall, Crazy Horse will be 563 feet high, 641 feet long and be carved in-the-round, according to a news release from the Crazy Horse Memorial project.
The mountain carving is the focal point of a nonprofit educational and cultural memorial honoring the North American Indian. The project is being continued by the wife and family of sculptor Korczak Ziolkowski (1908-1982).
The 19-foot high horse's head has been the priority since completion of the nine-story high face of Crazy Horse on June 3, 1998, the memorial's 50th anniversary. The imposing granite face of Crazy Horse alone is the world's largest sculpted portrait.
"Reaching the halfway mark in blocking out the horse's head is one of our most dramatic milestones in the mountain progress," said Ruth Ziolkowski, president and CEO of the Crazy Horse Memorial Foundation. "That's because the horse's head presents unique engineering challenges. In most every way it is an unprecedented undertaking in terms of logistics, scale, goal and nonprofit financing."
She added that it will take longer to shape the lower half of the horse's head than the upper portion.
"The mountain is considerably wider in the lower areas, so blocking out there will take longer and cost more. To speed our slow but steady progress, we need increased support from individuals, foundations and corporations. They could help in many ways. Also important to our progress is continued support of the heavy equipment and explosives industries which have been generous in the past," she said.
Gifts to the nonprofit Crazy Horse Memorial Foundation are tax exempt under IRS guidelines. For more information about the memorial, visit the Web site -- www.crazyhorsememorial.org