Noah's Ark

A working replica of Noah’s Ark opened in Schagen, Netherlands. A man built Noah’s Ark to the exact scale given in the Bible.  

The massive central door in the side of the ark was opened and the first crowd of curious townsfolk beheld the wonder. This replica of the biblical Ark was built by Dutch Creationist Johan Huibers as a testament to his faith in the literal truth of the Bible.  

The ark is 150 cubits long, 30 cubits high and 20 cubits wide. That’s 2/3 the length of a football field and as high as a three-story house.  

Life-sized models of giraffes, elephants, lions, crocodiles, zebras, bison and other animals greet visitors as they arrive in the main hold.  

A contractor by trade, Huibers built the ark of cedar and pine. Biblical scholars debate exactly what the wood used by Noah would have been. 

Huibers did the work mostly with his own hands, using modern tools and with occasional help from his son, Roy. Construction began in May, 2005. On the uncovered top deck … not quite ready in time for the opening … is a petting zoo, with baby lambs and chickens, goats and one camel.  

Visitors on the first day were stunned. “It’s beyond comprehension,” said Mary Louise Starosciak, who happened to be bicycling by with her husband while on vacation when the saw the ark looming over the local landscape. “I knew the story of Noah, but I had no idea the boat would have been so big!”  

There is enough space near the keel for a 50-seat film theater when kids can watch a video that tells the story of Noah and his ark. Huibers, a Christian man, said he hopes the project will renew interest in Christianity in the Netherlands, where church going has fallen dramatically in the past 50 years.

"Build yourself a ship from teakwood. Make rooms in it. Coat it with pitch inside and out. Make it 450 feet long, seventy-five feet wide, and forty-five feet high. Build a roof for it and put in a window eighteen inches from the top; put in a door on the side of the ship; and make three decks, lower, middle, and upper.” Genesis 6:14-16 (MSG)