The Venetian, Las Vegas

The Venetian Resort Hotel Casino is a luxury hotel and casino resort situated between Harrah’s and The Palazzo on the east side of the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, NV, United States, on the site of the old Sands Hotel. The hotel tower contains 40 stories and rises 475 feet (145 m). The Venetian is owned and operated by the Las Vegas Sands Corporation. The Venetian also serves as the seat of the corporate headquarters for its parent company. This hotel features a life-like replica tower of St Mark’s Campanile in Venice, Italy.
The Venetian is (along with the adjacent Sands Expo Convention Center and The Palazzo Hotel and Casino Resort) part of the largest five-diamond hotel and resort complex in the world with 4,049 suites, 4,059 hotel rooms, and a 120,000-square-foot (11,000 m2) casino.[1]
On November 26, 1996, eight years after it was bought by Sheldon Adelson, the Sands Hotel was imploded to make way for The Venetian Resort Hotel Casino. Ground was broken April 14, 1997.
The resort opened on May 3, 1999 with flutter of white doves, sounding trumpets and singing gondoliers, with actress Sophia Loren joining The Venetian Chairman and Owner, Sheldon G. Adelson, in christening the first motorized gondola. Built at a cost of $1.5 billion, it was one of the most expensive resorts of its kind when it opened.