ATTRACTIONS AIM A BIT HIGHER.

Byline: Eric Noland Travel Editor

LAS VEGAS - Fine art and historical artifacts are among the higher-brow diversions to be found on a restylized Las Vegas Strip.

The Bellagio Gallery of Fine Art was considered Steve Wynn's folly when the Mirage Resorts boss launched the endeavor 16 months ago, building the exhibit primarily around his personal collection. But it since has proven to be an enormously popular attraction in Las Vegas, requiring waits of up to two hours on weekends and routinely welcoming museum tour groups from around the country.

At the Rio, just off the Strip, a display of artifacts recovered from the Titanic wreck site has also been a favorite of visitors. As was the case last year, when the Rio built replicas of the interior rooms of Russia's Peterhof Palace for a display of Czarist treasures, the items are exhibited in a kind of you-are-there format.

Film buffs, meanwhile, might want to stop by the Luxor for an IMAX presentation of ``Fantasia 2000.''

The Bellagio's art exhibit is located in a tastefully designed gallery along a hallway near the hotel's convention rooms, comfortingly removed from the crassness of the casino.

According to the foreword of a companion book, Wynn caught the impressionist bug while an undergraduate at the University of Pennsylvania. But the collection is not confined to that school. One of the more intriguing works is an example of Renaissance portraiture by Rembrandt van Rijn, ``Portrait of a Man in a Red Doublet.'' The highlights of the subject's face are so natural and warm that you're tempted to whirl around to see if someone has lifted a shade on a nearby window.

Other notable works include Vincent van Gogh's ``Peasant Woman Against a Background of Wheat,'' Edgar Degas' ``Dancer Taking a Bow (The Prima Ballerina),'' Claude Monet's ``Water-Lily Pond With Bridge,'' Pablo Picasso's ``Portrait of Dora Maar'' and Pierre-Auguste Renoir's ``The Loge.'' Also displayed are paintings by Manet, Pissarro, Gauguin and Matisse.

Spokesman Alan Feldman noted that while some items in the collection are rotated, ``80 to 90 percent stays the same.''

Feldman said the exhibit rooms feature state-of-the-art lighting, humidity-control and security systems. Any numbskull who attempts to test the texture of oil on canvas will set off a cacophony that will make the casino seem like a church vestibule by comparison.

Admission includes an exhaustive audio tour narrated by Wynn. For some pieces, you might want to punch off the commentary before it is finished, but at least there is an in-depth art-appreciation opportunity for those who desire it. Visitors are advised to allow an hour for a tour of the gallery.

The audio tour is also included for the Titanic exhibit at the Rio. It's a fascinating way to view more than 200 relics - which range from the ship's instruments to hair brushes to entire steamer trunks. At one point, you walk down a cabin hallway on the ship and overhear voices behind the stateroom doors. They've also re-created the ship's grand staircase, featured prominently in the recent movie (your adolescent daughters might be disappointed that they're not allowed to climb it to take a closer look at the clock).

One of the most wrenching aspects of the exhibit is a listing of the ship's passengers and crew, with the names of the dead highlighted. It is here that you get a profound sense of how emergency evacuation was a function of social status in 1912 - a disproportionate number of the survivors came from the first-class list.

IF YOU GO

The Bellagio Gallery of Fine Art is open daily from 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. Admission is $12 per person ($6 for Nevada residents). Children 12 and under are only admitted between 8 and 10:30 a.m. and must be accompanied by an adult. Information: [phone] or [phone]; Web: www.bellagiolasvegas.com. The Rio's Titanic exhibit is open 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily. Admission is $15.95 for adults, $9.95 for children ages 6 to 14 (5 and under free). Information: [phone] or [phone]; Web:www.playrio.com. At the Luxor, ``Fantasia 2000'' plays daily every 75 minutes or so from 9 a.m. (last show 11 p.m.) Information: [phone] or [phone]; Web: www.luxor.com.

CAPTION(S):

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Photo: (color) Van Gogh's "Peasant Woman Against a Background of Wheat" is displayed at the Bellagio Gallery of Fine Art.

Box: IF YOU GO (See text)