The sculpture of a rider on a horse made in stone was intended to be a monument emerging from the mountain massif and at the same time a record of the memory of the symbol, history and heritage of Native Americans.

Sioux in the Black Hills
South Dakota is located in the central-northern part of the United States of America. In this area, the Great Plains, the legend of this country was written - the tribal life of the native people, the bloody history of conquest, settlement, the gold rush. In the Dakota Territory (before it was split in two), the Great Sioux Reservation was established in 1868, and in the following years gold deposits were found lying in the Black Hills mountains. The largest gold mine in this part of the country, the Homestake Mine, operated until 2002.

Indian chiefs - Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse - in battle against settlers
The Indians fought battles to preserve their lands and rights, while the settlers pursued expansion. The scales of victory tipped to one side or the other. Several facts have become milestones of mutual relations.

Two Indian chiefs, Sitting Bull (ca. 1831-1890) and Crazy Horse (1849-1877), who led warriors against the 7th US Cavalry Regiment, may be mentioned. The victorious battle took place at Little Bighorn in 1876. The battle saw the death of one of the bloodiest Indian conquerors, General George Custer. According to some statistics, his regiment lost 280 soldiers and nine officers, while 32 warriors died on the Indian side. A year later, Crazy Horse - the legendary leader of the Lakota (Sioux) tribe - was killed with bayonets by soldiers from Fort Robinson.

Crazy Horse Memorial
The history of the Great Plains and, above all, the cultivation of the memory of the culture and history of all the indigenous peoples of the United States of America is the subject of the Crazy Horse Memorial project run by a foundation set up for this purpose. The undertaking consists of several elements: The Crazy Horse Monument, the Indian Museum of North America, the Native American Educational and Cultural Centre, the university (The Indian University of North America of Crazy Horse Memorial) and the Avenue of the Great Chiefs.

Crazy Horse Monument
Starting at the beginning, it is important to remember 1948 when, to honour the history of their people, the Sioux chiefs decided that a monument would be built in the Black Hills. "I and the other chiefs want the white people to know that the redskins also had their heroes," stressed the initiator and greatest advocate of the cause Standing Bear (Standing Bear). Chief Crazy Horse was chosen as a symbol of history and culture. Although no images of him have survived to the present day (not least because he refused to have his picture taken, believing it took his soul), it was decided to create a kind of memorial portrait, a kind of conventional image.

The assumption is that Polish traces can also be found. They emerge from the mountain, 6532 feet (1991 m) above sea level, and are enchanted in the stone, in which a sculpture of a rider on horseback is still being created. As the designer and maker of the sculpture - Korczak Ziolkowski, who has Polish roots - admitted, it was intended to be "more of a remembrance of the people of the spirit - the character of Crazy Horse".

A story in stone - the Crazy Horse statue
When the artist began work, he lived in a tent at the foot of the mountain. He carried all the pieces on his back and in his hands. Almost every day he climbed 741 steps laden with kilos of dynamite, steel, ropes and the most necessary tools in order to work. He also knew from the outset that he would not be able to complete the sculpture in his lifetime. He therefore left numerous notes and plans for descendants and continuators.

His wife Ruth (née Ross) Ziolkowski and his ten children Joel, Mark, Anna, Kazimierz, Jadwiga, Adam, Marinka, Monika, Dawn and Jasio also worked on the project. Today, the mountain is being carved using modern equipment, including bulldozers and excavators. In turn, the artist's work is continued by his children and grandchildren, as well as by the descendants of the Indian chief Mad Horse, immortalised in the stone.

On the project's website, however, it is possible not only to keep track of the progress of the work, but also to find figures showing the scale of the planned and still unfinished work. Crazy Horse's head (completed in 1998) measures over 87 feet, the outstretched arm is 263 feet in size and the toe is over 29 feet. The horse on which the legendary leader sits has a head of 219 feet, its mane is 62 feet long and its ears are 54 feet long.

Korczak Ziolkowski - Polish by descent
Korczak Ziółkowski was born on 6 September 1908 in Boston, the son of Anna and Józef Ziółkowski. It is likely that his grandfather travelled to the United States, having embarked on the journey of a lifetime from Krakow. Korczak's parents died tragically when he was one year old. The child left behind was brought up in orphanages.

As a youngster, he ended up in a shipyard in Boston, where he worked as a carpenter. These were his first steps towards sculpture. He went on to study with the sculptor John Kirchmayer, who - along with Judge Frederick Pickering Cabot - was his mentor and friend.

As a sculptor, Ziolkowski came to prominence in 1939 when, at the World Exhibition in New York, he showed a study of the head of Ignacy Jan Paderewski - Study of an Immortal, for which he was awarded the first prize.

His success led to an offer to become an assistant to the Danish sculptor Gutzon Borglum, who was then creating sculptures of the heads of US presidents at Mount Rushmore. Ziolkowski worked on the monument until Borglum's death (1941). It was the time of the Second World War, when the artist, at the age of thirty-four, was wounded twice and reached the rank of sergeant.

When he returned home, he accepted an offer made to him a few years earlier by the Indian chiefs and set off for the Black Hills. "What an honour for a Polish orphan from Boston to be entrusted by the Indian chiefs with the task of telling in stone the history of their race. What a great honour! Only in America can a man carve a mountain," Korczak Ziolkowski admitted.

The artist died suddenly, due to a heart attack, on 20 October 1982. He was buried in a pre-carved tomb at the foot of a hill in the Black Hills. The inscription carved in the stone, in free translation, declares: KORCZAK. A storyteller telling in stone. KORCZAK / Storyteller in Stone / May His Remains Be Left Unknown.

1948-2023

Korczak Ziółkowski(aperçu)

Anna Rudek-Śmiechowska