Pegasus and Dragon
A 10-story winged horse locked in combat with a fire-breathing dragon. It's the second-tallest statue in the continental United States. It's in a casino parking lot.
Standing 10 stories tall and weighing over 100 tons, the Pegasus and Dragon sculpture outside Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach is the second-tallest statue in the contiguous United States — behind only the Statue of Liberty. It depicts a winged horse in mid-battle with a fire-breathing dragon, rendered in extraordinary anatomical detail at a scale that makes no sense until you're standing beneath it.
The sculptor, Douwe Blumberg, spent years on the piece. The dragon's scales are individually cast. The horse's musculature is anatomically correct. At 100 feet tall, it is visible from I-95.
The statue was commissioned by Gulfstream Park as a landmark for their mixed-use development. It succeeds. The contrast between the mythological scale of the sculpture and the strip-mall context of its surroundings is part of what makes it so strange and memorable. You can walk right up to the base. Most people drive past it on 95 and never stop.
Located at Gulfstream Park, 901 S Federal Hwy, Hallandale Beach. Free to view — just park in the Gulfstream lot and walk to the main entrance. Best photographed in late afternoon when the light hits the bronze from the west. The scale only registers in person.