What a breathtaking sight. Ever since I had seen the Alfred Hitchcock movie,North by Northwest, I've always wanted to see Mount Rushmore and, boy oh boy, I was not disappointed.
Here is a little history. Gutzon Borglum, the artist and sculptor, had a vision for Mount Rushmore to be "the formal rendering of the philosophy of our government into granite on a mountain peak". Borglum chose to give human form to the abstract. His monument to America grouped four leaders who brought the nation from colonial times into the 1900's. The four Presidents were chosen to commemorate the founding, growth, preservation, and development of the United States. They symbolize the principles of liberty and freedom on which the nation was founded. George Washington signifies the struggle for independence and the birth of the Republic; Thomas Jefferson the territorial expansion of the country; Abraham Lincoln the permanent union of the States and the equality for all citizens; and Theodore Roosevelt, the 20th century role of the United States in world affairs and the rights of the common man.
It took fourteen years of work but only six years were spent on the actual carving.
Gutzon Borglum said, "A monument's dimensions should be determined by the importance to civilization of the events commemorated....Let us place there, carved high, as close to heaven as we can, the words of our leaders, their faces, to show posterity what matter of men they were. Then breathe a prayer that these records will endure until the wind and the rain alone shall wear them away."
Pretty powerful stuff!!!!
We were very fortunate to have seen the lighting ceremony of the monument which included a movie on Freedom and a salute to our men and women in the military who were in attendance. It was a very moving evening for us.
No comments:
Post a Comment