This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2015, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

Utah and BYU fans heading to Las Vegas for the bowl game Saturday might want to check out the newest exhibit at the Mob Museum in downtown Las Vegas..

The museum, located at 300 Stewart Ave., interprets the Mob and its activities from its birth until today. It is open from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.

The newest exhibit that went on display December 9 is the execution chair from Nevada's gas chamber, on loan from the Nevada State Museum in Carson City, Nevada.

According to Mob Museum officials, Nevada was the first place in the world to use lethal gas to execute prisoners. The gas chamber, built in 1951, was 10 feet by 10 feet and modeled on California's gas chamber at San Quentin. It contained two identical metal chairs bolted to the floor. Each chair had slots and brackets through which leather straps were inserted to hold down the prisoner. Cyanide gas released into the chamber deprived the condemned prisoner of oxygen, killing him in minutes.

Nevada executed 32 people in the chamber through 1983, when the state switched to lethal injection.

The non-profit museum was designed by the team that built the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland and the International Spy Museum in Washington, D.C.

It cost $42 million to contract and was funded through local, state and federal grants.

For information on other exhibits, log on to themobmuseum.org.