By The Associated Press

MOBILE, Ala. -- Russia's dazzling imperial treasures are heading here for a five-month run, and Mobile's hotels and restaurants are gearing up for thousands of tourists.

The Mobile Civic Center's expo hall will be crowned the Grand Exhibition Hall following a full-scale renovation to accommodate the Nicholas & Alexandra exhibit opening June 12.

The Romanov Dynasty collection features almost 700 objects from the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg and other Russian museums. The objects will be displayed through a series of 14 galleries set up in the expo hall. Each gallery will replicate the palace parlors and staterooms of the imperial family.

Planners expect 3,500-4,000 people a day will visit the exhibit during its run through Nov. 14, judging from the exhibition's success in Wilmington, Del., where it closed Feb. 14.

If successful, the exhibition would easily outpace the city's other major attractions -- Battleship Memorial Park (pictured), which draws about 260,000 people a year, and Bellingrath Gardens, about 150,000 annually.

City officials hope the exhibition will give Mobile's tourism market a lasting boost and ''raise Mobile up a notch'' in the cultural arena. Based on the Wilmington experience, the exhibition could draw 100,000 visitors a month.

Greg Long, owner of Smoke-N-Joe's barbecue across the street from expo hall, says he's planning a special menu with some Russian dishes -- possibly some caviar as a side with ribs. ''We're new at this, but we're doing a cultural cuisine,'' Mr. Long says.

-- The Associated Press

Information: Mobile Convention Bureau can be reached at (800) 566-2453; Web site www.mobile.org. Ticket information: (888) 395-0005.