Mount Rushmore

For the band, see Mount Rushmore (band).

Mount Rushmore National Memorial Shrine of Democracy Tȟuŋkášila Šákpe Pahá
View of Mount Rushmore, showing Gutzon Borglum's sculpted heads of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln
Mount Rushmore Location within the United States Mount Rushmore Location within South Dakota
Location	Pennington County, South Dakota
Nearest city	Keystone, South Dakota
Coordinates	43°52′44″N 103°27′33″W
Area	1,278 acres (5.17 km2)
Elevation	5,725 feet (1,745 m) AMSL
Authorized	March 3, 1925 (1925-03-03)
Visitors	2,440,449 (in 2022)
Governing body	National Park Service
Website	www.nps.gov/moru
Mount Rushmore National Memorial
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
U.S. Historic district
Built	1927–1941
Architect	Gutzon Borglum and Lincoln Borglum
NRHP reference No.	66000718
Added to NRHP	October 15, 1966 (1966-10-15)

The Mount Rushmore National Memorial is a national memorial featuring a colossal sculpture carved into the granite face of Mount Rushmore (Lakota: Tȟuŋkášila Šákpe Pahá, or Six Grandfathers Mountain) in the Black Hills, about 2 mi (3 km) southwest of Keystone, South Dakota, United States. The sculptor, Gutzon Borglum, named it the Shrine of Democracy, and oversaw the execution from 1927 to 1941 with the help of his son, Lincoln Borglum. The sculpture features 60-foot-tall (18 m) depictions of the heads of four United States presidents: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln, respectively chosen to represent the nation's foundation, expansion, development, and preservation. Mount Rushmore attracts more than two million visitors annually to the memorial park which covers 1,278 acres (2.00 sq mi; 517 hectares).

Mount Rushmore is 3.7 mi (6.0 km) east-northeast of the summit of Black Elk Peak (formerly Harney Peak), the highest point in the Black Hills. Mount Rushmore is considered part of the Black Elk Range (formerly the Harney Range) in treatments that distinguish that subrange of the Black Hills. Its elevation at its highest point is 5,725 feet (1,745 m) above sea level.

Borglum chose Mount Rushmore in part because of its southeast-facing direction and maximum exposure to sunlight. The carving was the idea of Doane Robinson, South Dakota's state historian. Robinson originally wanted the sculpture to feature American West heroes, such as Lewis and Clark, their expedition guide Sacagawea, Oglala Lakota chief Red Cloud, Buffalo Bill Cody, and Oglala Lakota chief Crazy Horse. Borglum, arguing that the sculpture should be national in scope rather than regional, convinced them to choose the four presidents instead.

Peter Norbeck, U.S. senator from South Dakota, sponsored the project and secured federal funding. Construction began in 1927 and the presidents' faces were completed between 1934 and 1939. After Gutzon Borglum died in March 1941, his son Lincoln took over as leader of the construction project. Each president was originally to be depicted from head to waist, but lack of funding forced construction to end on October 31, 1941, and only Washington's sculpture includes any detail below chin level.

The sculpture at Mount Rushmore was built on land that was taken from the Sioux Nation in the 1870s. In 1980, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in United States v. Sioux Nation of Indians that the taking of the Black Hills required just compensation and awarded the tribe $102 million. The Sioux have refused the money, and continue to demand return of the land. This conflict continues, leading some critics of the monument to refer to it as a "Shrine of Hypocrisy".