For nearly 40 years, Siegfried & Roy’s show was one of the most iconic and popular acts in Vegas. When The Mirage closed in 2024, conversations naturally focused on the property’s biggest landmarks, such as the volcano and the iconic neon sign.
But, less attention was paid to a bronze sculpture in front of The Mirage. Dedicated in 1993, the 15-foot-tall bronze Siegfried & Roy sculpture greeted visitors arriving at The Mirage. It depicts the famed illusionists alongside one of their signature white tigers and even people who never attended the show likely walked past it, posed for photos with it, or used it as a meeting spot before heading into the resort.
Now, after The Mirage’s closure, the sculpture has found a new home at The Neon Museum.
Its recent unveiling offers an opportunity to look beyond the performers themselves and consider what happens to the physical symbols of Las Vegas when the places they were built for no longer exist. Let’s look at the history of Siegfried & Roy and explore what’s next for the iconic sculpture.
More Than a Show
Siegfried & Roy ‘Sing-a-long’ on Las Vegas Boulevard, Bernie Yuman, ca. 1990, Photograph, Courtesy of Robert Stoldal Family Collection. The Neon Museum. 2022.025.049
It’s difficult to separate Siegfried & Roy from The Mirage because, for many visitors, the two became almost interchangeable.
When the duo opened their residency at the resort in February 1990, Las Vegas was already known for entertainment but thanks to the show’s illusion, theater, and iconic exotic animals, it quickly cemented itself into the DNA of the city.
This ambition and drive to do something different fit perfectly with The Mirage’s ambitions. Opened in 1989, The Mirage helped usher in the era of the megaresort, where entertainment and experiences became as important as gaming. Siegfried & Roy quickly became the property’s signature act and one of the most recognizable brands on the Strip.
During their run at The Mirage, Siegfried & Roy performed approximately 5,750 shows for more than 10.5 million guests. At a time when most Las Vegas shows came and went, theirs became one of the most successful and longest-running productions in the city’s history.
For many visitors in the 1990s, seeing Siegfried & Roy was one of the reasons they came to Las Vegas in the first place.
The Sigfried & Roy Sculpture
Even though the show ended in 2003, the sculpture remained standing for more than two decades outside The Mirage. The Strip continued to evolve but the bronze sculpture stayed put.
This staying power is one of the reasons why the piece is still significant today. Unlike a marquee or a promotional poster, the sculpture became part of the physical identity of both the Mirage and Las Vegas as a whole. Millions of visitors walked by it and even if they didn’t get a chance to see the show itself, they knew it was a recognizable landmark and appreciated its history.
When The Mirage closed, the future of the sculpture suddenly became uncertain.
The Siegfried & Roy Sculpture Gets a New Home at The Neon Museum
One of the challenges of preserving Las Vegas history is deciding what deserves preservation in the first place. Hotels are always being renovated, attractions come and go, and even entire resorts get demolished and forgotten about. With all that change, not everything can be saved.
Because of this, the Siegfried & Roy sculpture presented an interesting case.
At approximately 15 feet tall and weighing around 3,600 pounds, moving it was no small task. Yet several organizations, including Hard Rock International, The Mirage, the Penta Cares Foundation, and The Neon Museum worked together to ensure it would remain accessible to the public rather than disappearing into storage or private ownership.
The sculpture officially joined The Neon Museum’s collection in April 2026. Not only was this a huge accomplishment, but it also broadened The Neon Museum’s collection outside of just neon signs and further solidified their mission to illuminate the “cultural essence of Las Vegas.”
The Siegfried & Roy sculpture is now one of the largest non-neon artifacts in the collection. This unveiling gives visitors another opportunity to experience the piece as a prominent part of the Las Vegas landscape rather than as a static object tucked away in a museum collection.
An Artifact From the Cultural Essence of Las Vegas
The sculpture’s new home at The Neon Museum not only preserves the memory of two entertainers, but it also preserves a specific moment in the city’s history.
The Mirage represented a turning point for Las Vegas and Siegfried & Roy represented a new scale of entertainment. Together, they helped shape an era when resorts competed through attractions, production value, and top-tier performers.
Today, Las Vegas looks a lot different than it used to. Many visitors come for professional sports, celebrity residencies, immersive experience, and attractions that would have seemed unimaginable a few decades ago. But many of those developments trace back to the same period that produced The Mirage and the extraordinary success of Siegfried & Roy.
Even though the bronze tiger now stands somewhere very different from where it began, it still represents this era of Vegas and the importance of remembering where we came from to appreciate where we’re going.
Come visit The Neon Museum to see the Siegfried & Roy sculpture in its new home. Get your tickets here.
Daytime Admission
Daily 3 - 5 p.m.
From $25
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