Mount Rushmore
See the giant faces of four American presidents carved into a mountain in South Dakota!
Close-up detail of one presidential face showing the incredible precision of the carved features and granite texture
Mount Rushmore features the giant carved faces of four American presidents staring out from a granite mountain in South Dakota! Each face is 60 feet tall - that's as tall as a 6-story building - and you can see them from 60 miles away on a clear day. The presidents are George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln, chosen to represent America's birth, growth, development, and preservation.
The four presidential faces carved into Mount Rushmore with pine trees in foreground and visitors on viewing platform for scale. Image Credit: Mohan Nannapaneni, Pexels
This incredible sculpture was created by artist Gutzon Borglum and his son Lincoln, who spent 14 years (1927-1941) blasting and carving the mountain using dynamite, jackhammers, and chisels. Over 400 workers helped create this masterpiece, removing 450,000 tons of rock! They used 90% dynamite and only 10% detailed carving - the workers had to be incredibly precise so they wouldn't accidentally blow off a president's nose!
The granite mountain was perfect for carving because it's very hard and weathers slowly, meaning these presidential faces should last for thousands of years. Each president's eye is 11 feet wide, their nose is 20 feet long, and their mouth is 18 feet across - big enough for a person to crawl inside! Originally, Borglum planned to carve the presidents from head to waist, but ran out of money and time.
Mount Rushmore shows us how artists and workers can transform a natural mountain into an inspiring monument that honors history and amazes visitors for generations!
