Mount Rushmore National Mémorial
Mount Rushmore is one of the most iconic sculptures in the United States by Gutzon Borglum between 1927 and 1941.
This cliff, which rises to 1740 meters, offers us the sight of four titanic sculptures engraved directly in the rock in the heart of the Black Hills in South Dakota. These sculptures represent portraits of US Presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln. Their faces are 18 meters high.
Mount Rushmore is a must for tourists, every year, 3 million people go there to admire this monumental work.
If you want to go there, know that the visit is free but the car parks around are paying. There is a walk of about one kilometer called "Presidential Trail" which lasts about half an hour. It makes it possible to observe the presidents from several angles. The site is open all year.
Hidden behind Abraham Lincoln's head hides a secret chamber called "Hall of Records", it's a sort of archive room about 24 meters high and 30 meters long. This secret room is accessible via a 245 meter long granite staircase that joins the entrance to the canyon.
The construction of this huge hidden room began in July 1938. Workers were able to dig the tunnel with explosives.
To access it, you have to cross a secret tunnel that was also designed by the sculptor Gutzon Borglum. The work of this tunnel was completed in the 1990s.
For security reasons, the "Hall of Records" is not accessible to tourists.
At the entrance of this tunnel, we can see a titanium safe covered with a granite plate was deposited at the entrance of the Record room. Inside this timeless chest, a teak box contains sixteen porcelain panels on which is engraved the entire epic of Mount Rushmore's construction as well as a short history of the United States such as the Declaration. of Independence, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.
One can also find the biography of Gutzon Borglum hidden in a wooden box locked in a titanium safe.
Indeed, initially, the sculptor wanted to build a much larger piece of art to include important moments throughout American history. It has finally been reduced to the faces of four American presidents, indeed, Congress has decided that the monument should finally be limited to the faces of the presidents.
On the 544-kilogram heavy granite plaque that seals this safe that serves as a souvenir box, the words of Gutzon Borglum are engraved: "Let us stand there, as high and close to heaven as possible, the words of our presidents, their faces, to show the future world what kind of men they were, and then let us pray that these memories last until only rain and wind erase them. "