The carving of the faces of four US presidents in the southeastern side of Mount Rushmore is among the world's most recognizable granite monuments. The original idea was to promote South Dakota by carving famous Westerners' faces into a Black Hills peak, but that changed when sculptor Gutzon Borglum and others insisted the project should honor national leaders and their accomplishments. Mount Rushmore was chosen because it was the highest peak in the region and had some of the hardest granite. The George Washington sculpture was dedicated in 1934, with Thomas Jefferson following in 1936, Abraham Lincoln in 1937 and Theodore Roosevelt in 1939. More than 3 million people visit the monument each year.

Famous building made or igneous rocks