BATON ROUGE - Alexandria will be the center of attention Dec. 20 for the official opening ceremonies of a yearlong celebration of the 200th anniversary the Louisiana Purchase.

Before the official opening, however, Shreveport will premiere the film "Lewis & Clark, Great Journey West" at the city's IMAX dome Theatre in the Sci-Port Discovery Center.

The film will run from Septem-ber through August 2003 as a part of the statewide celebration that will ultimately take in events around Louisiana, Tourism Secre-tary Phillip Jones said Wednesday.

In addition to hosting opening ceremonies for the celebration and related activities, Alexandria will host an exhibit sponsored by the government of Spain titled The Heart of Spain, officials said Wednesday at a news conference held to highlight some of the ac-tivities.

While Spain did not play a part in the purchase of the Louisiana territory by the United States from France in 1803, the Iberian gov-ernment had a "40-year relation-ship" with the territory and wanted to participate in marking the event, Consul General of Spain Jose G. Nunez-Iglesias said.

The state also will play host to special exhibits and artworks on loan from France, Consul General of France Bernard Maiseret said.

Lt. Gov. Kathleen Blanco said every fair and festival in the state "will be themed to the purchase."

Jones said the events could bring 25 million tourists and $9 billion to the state.