Artist Spends 20 Years Building Life-Size Replica Of Noah’s Ark

Inspired by Noah’s Ark from the Book
of Genesis, Dutch artist Johan
Huibers built a modern day replica
spending a whopping $1.2 million on
it. His reasons for building the vessel –
he feared the effects global warming
would someday have on his country,
flooding included. The idea came to
him in 1992, when he had a dream
about his native land submerged in a
flood similar to the one in the Book of
Genesis.
He continued to think about it until he
finally did something about it. And the
result is a 130m long, 29m wide, 23m
high ark that he completed in 2005.
Weighing almost 3000 tons and built from
Swedish pine reinforced with steel, it is
quite hard to believe that ark might be
seaworthy at all, but this modern-day
Noah assures us it does indeed float.
A carpenter by profession, Johan
Huibers has now opened his full scale
ark to the public and is attracting
thousands of tourists from the world
over. Located in Dordrecht, the
Netherlands, the ark is something that
would even surprise Noah, for it has a
restaurant, two cinemas and of course,
a menagerie of life-sized plastic
animals. Towering over the flat Dutch
landscape, the ark is easily visible
from a nearby highway. Across the
arks main hold is a huge space of
stalls, where visitors can view a large
collection of stuffed and plastic
animals like zebras, gorillas, lions,
tigers, bears and buffaloes.
There’s also a petting zoo, where less
dangerous real-life animals like dogs,
sheep, rabbits, ponies and a few exotic
birds are housed . On each level of the
boat, around its edges, are displays
about the history and dress of the
ancient Middle East, a few scenes from
the life of Noah, and games for kids
like water pumps and levers that lift
bales of hay. But the ark is not just
about tourist attractions. Down below,
there exists a honeycomb system of
hatches, each opening an area where
food could be sealed in for long-term
storage. The curvature of the upper
deck could be used to collect rainwater
and also to let the horses and other
animals get some exercise. Huibers
says that his boat gives people a pretty
good idea of how Noah’s ark would
have worked in practice.
Jojan first built the half-scale version
in 2004 and let it float over the
country’s canals, before the larger one
was complete. When tourists flocked to
see the prototype which was open to
public, the proceeds went directly into
funding the full-scale version.
According to the original story, the ark
was supposed to be 300 cubits long, 50
cubits wide and 30 cubits high. It’s
hard to interpret this ancient system of
measurement, but Huibers did it based
on the length of the forearm,
determining that the final length had
to be maybe about 450ft long.
Over half the length of the Titanic, this
modern-age boat is called the ‘Johan’s
Ark’. Huibers completed the mammoth
task with the help of his two children
and some friends. He says that his
motivation was ultimately religious,
wanting to make people think about
their purpose on Earth. “I want to
make people question that so that they
go looking for answers.” The city of
Dordrecht might just need the ark
sometime in the future, given that it is
quite prone to floods. One of the
world’s deadliest floods occurred here
in the 15th century, claiming about
10,000 lives.
Let’s just hope nothing like that
happens anytime soon, and if it does,
perhaps Johan’s Ark could save
everyone. Meanwhile, he’s dreaming
of a new project – to get the Israelis
and Arabs to cooperate and build a
water pipeline from the
Mediterranean Sea to the Dead Sea.
Well, now THAT would be a miracle of
biblical proportions.