Vegas04

By Ashland Thomas

Piece description from the artist

A rare aerial shot of a perfectly still fountain centerpiece.

Bellagio opened on October 15, 1998 at an estimated cost of $1.6 billion. The Fountains of Bellagio is a vast, choreographed water feature with performances set to light and music. The fountain display is choreographed to various pieces of music, including "Time To Say Goodbye" by Andrea Bocelli, "God Bless the USA" by Lee Greenwood, "Your Song" by Elton John, "Viva Las Vegas" by Elvis Presley, "Luck Be a Lady" by Frank Sinatra, "My Heart Will Go On" by Céline Dion, and "The Sound of Silence" by Disturbed. The fountains are set in an 8-acre man made lake. Contrary to urban myth, the lake is not filled with treated grey water from the hotel. The lake is actually serviced by a freshwater well that was drilled decades prior to irrigate a golf course that previously existed on the site. The fountains actually use less water than irrigating the golf course did. They incorporate a network of pipes with more than 1,200 nozzles that make it possible to stage fountain displays coordinated with more than 4,500 lights. It is estimated that the fountains cost $40 million to build. The fountains were created by WET, a design firm specializing in inventive fountains and architectural water features.

Four types of nozzles are used for the various effects:

208 Oarsmen – jets with a full range of spherical motion
798 Shooters – shoot water upwards
192 Super Shooters – send a water blast as high as 240 ft (73 m) in the air.
16 Extreme Shooters – send a water blast as high as 460 ft (140 m) (added in 2005)