On Oct. 4, 1927, the sculptor Gutzon Borglum broke into the rocky face of what the Lakota Sioux called Cougar Mountain, and spent the next 14 years transforming it into what we now refer to as Mount Rushmore. He insisted that he did not carve the faces of four powerful white men who expanded and preserved the Republic into the rock, but, rather, that they were always there, and that he merely “released (them) from the granite.”

It is by this process that the very best drag queens reveal themselves to us. Their artifice is not a creation, but an uncovering. Not a molding, but a chiseling away. This week’s long-awaited season finale of “RuPaul’s Drag Race” shone a spotlight on three queens of this glitter-glued stripe, who bravely and beautifully Ru-vealed their authentic, naked selves to us through a granite dust of lashes, lip syncs and looks. (Kameron Michaels was also a finalist.)

A decade’s worth of Racers gathered at the Ace Hotel theater in Los Angeles to celebrate the show’s decaversary, reflect upon its impact on 10 years of politics and pop culture, and crown its new spiritual leader. Finalists Asia O’Hara, Aquaria, Eureka O’Hara and Kameron Michaels, as well as their 10 run-hers up, were welcomed to the stage by eight of the nine original Season 1 queens. (Was Tammie Brown busy selling Cameo messages on Twitter? Get on TV, girl!)

As the Season 10 queens walked into the light, the audience exploded. Overnight gay icon Vanessa “Vanjie” Mateo detonated the crowd with her minted rallying cry, and The Vixen gave a black-power salute to thunderous cheers. Aquaria showed us what Sharon Stone’s Catwoman would wear to the opera, Asia was chillingly regal in a Thai princess ensemble, and Kameron wore a big pink princess-y thing with no discernible narrative. Eureka O’Hara, in her sixth cousin Scarlett’s hand-me-downs, detached her skirt mid-runway, and then weirdly just kind of left it there. (This choice foreshadowed an evening tightly tucked with tearaways and Ru-veals.)