Museums and exhibitions in South Dakota

Theater and opera houses

Orpheum Theater in Sioux Falls
The Orpheum Theater in the city of Sioux Falls was opened in 1913 as a vaudeville show. At that time, the Orpheum Theater still had 1,000 seats, today there are only 700. The last renovation was completed in 2009 and the stage of the Orpheum Theater now shines in a new light. The Orpheum Theater attracts over 100,000 visitors every year.

Black Hills Playhouse in Custer State Park
The Black Hills Playhouse in Custer State Park is a theater and was founded in 1946. The current theater building was built in 1955. The Black Hills Playhouse is one of the so-called "summer stock theaters", it is even the oldest still operated "summer stock theater". This means that performances are only given in the summer months. Between 5 and 6 performances are given each summer. These can be musicals, dramas or comedies.

Museums and exhibitions

Washington Pavilion of Arts and Science in Sioux Falls
The Washington Pavilion of Arts and Science in the city of Sioux Falls is a mixture of art gallery, concert hall, cinema and science museum. The complex opened in 1999 in the former Washington High School building, which is part of the neoclassical revolutionary architecture. The Visual Arts Center has 6 galleries with changing exhibitions, which are free of charge. In addition to these exhibitions, there are several stages on which Broadway plays, operas and concerts are performed. The South Dakota Symphony is also located in the complex.

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National Music Museum in Vermilion
The National Music Museum in the city of Vermilion is a museum of musical instruments and was founded in 1973 on the campus of the University of South Dakota. The museum's collection is exceptional and includes over 13,500 exhibits from all cultures and epochs of the world. Numerous instruments in the collection are among the oldest and best preserved in the world.

Delbridge Museum of Natural History in Sioux Falls
The Delbridge Museum of Natural History in the city of Sioux Falls is a natural history museum. The museum's 150 animal collection goes back to Henry Brockhouse, who was a very active hunter in the 1940s, 50s, and 60s. The collection was made available to the city of Sioux Falls in 1981. The admission ticket also gives you free entry to the Great Plains Zoo.

The Journey Museum and Gardens in Rapid City
The Journey Museum, founded in 1997 in the city of Rapid City, is a museum dedicated to the history of the Black Hills. The museum goes back a good 2.5 billion years, depicting the subject areas of paleontology, archeology, indigenous history and pioneering times. The museum is surrounded by several gardens.

Sturgis Motorcycle Museum & Hall of Fame in Sturgis
The Sturgis Motorcycle Museum in the city of Sturgis is a museum dedicated to the history of the motorcycle. The museum was opened in 2001, at that time in a former church. Today the museum is housed in the city's former post office. The museum shows around 100 historical or unique motorcycles. The oldest motorcycle in the exhibition dates from 1905.

Museum of Geology in Rapid City
The Museum of Geology in Rapid City opened in 1885 and is part of the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology. The museum serves the collection and exhibition, but also the research of mineralogical, paleontological and geological exhibits.

Redlin Art Center in Watertown
The Redlin Art Center in the city of Watertown was opened in 1997 and exhibits over 150 original paintings by the artist Terry Redlin, who is known for his natural paintings, on an exhibition area of ​​approx. 4,800 m². The red brick building of the museum, designed by Terry Redlin's son, shines particularly beautifully in the evening sun. Around 2 million guests visit the Redlin Art Center every year, no wonder, because admission is free.

Porter Sculpture Park near Montrose
The Porter Sculpture Park near the city of Montrose is a very special art exhibition. All of the sculptures in the exhibition opened in 2000 are outdoors. The artist Wayne Porter created most of the sculptures that can be attributed to the style of industrial art from scrap metal. The size of the sculptures should not be underestimated. The largest sculpture, the skull of a bull, with a height of 18 m (and a remarkable weight of 25 tons) is as big as the heads of the much more famous Mount Rushmore.

South Dakota Air and Space Museum in Box Elder
The South Dakota Air and Space Museum in the city of Box Elder, which is dedicated to the history of aerospace in general and the history of the US Air Force in particular, has a total of more than 30 exhibits.

Monuments and memorials

Mount Rushmore National Memorial at Keystone
The Mount Rushmore National Memorial near the town of Keystone is a memorial on Mount Rushmore in the Black Hills. The memorial basically consists of the portrait heads of four important US presidents (seen from left to right: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln), which were carved into the granite of Mount Rushmore or carved out. The individual portrait heads have a height of approx. 18 m. The monument was started on August 10, 1927 under the direction of the sculptor Gutzon Borglum (1871-1941) and was completed after around 14 years of construction. He died before Abraham Lincoln's head was completed - his son Lincoln completed the work in 1941. The monument is also known as the Shrine of Democracy. Due to its popularity, the Mount Rushmore National Memorial is very well represented in the media. For example, part of the film "The Invisible Third" by Alfred Hitchcock, starring in Gary Grant and Eva Maria Saint, also played on Mount Rushmore. The Lincoln Borglum Museum is also housed in the Mount Rushmore National Memorial. The Mount Rushmore National Memorial attracts approximately 3 million visitors annually.

Crazy Horse Monument
The Crazy Horse Monument is a monument under construction about 25 km southwest of Mount Rushmore National Memorial in the Black Hills. It has been under construction since June 3, 1948. The monumental sculpture in honor of the Oglala Lakota Indian "Crazy Horse" (1839-1877), like the portrait heads of the American presidents, is carved into a mountain at the Mount Rushmore National Memorial. However, at about 172 m in height and 195 m in length, it is said to be significantly larger than the Mount Rushmore National Memorial. It is currently the largest monument in the world.
The idea for the monument to commemorate the culture and life of the North American Indians came from Korczak Ziolkowski, who had worked on the monument until his death. After his death, his wife and children continued to work on it, but no date for completion is yet in sight. There is also criticism from Native Americans complaining that the monument desecrates the sacred Black Hills and that Crazy Horse was never photographed.

Memorial Park Berlin Wall in Rapid City
The Memorial Park Berlin Wall in the city of Rapid City is in principle a large contiguous piece of the Berlin Wall. It is the largest piece of the Berlin Wall in the USA, although it is only 2 segments. The piece of the Berlin Wall is supposed to remind of the Cold War.

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