Johan Huibers is a successful building contractor who hails from England. He also happens to be a religious man and he had a dream one night about a flood that swept across the Netherlands. It was in the flood that the region was wiped out and he claims to have seen a sign that he was to build an ark similar to the one that Noah built as was recorded in the book of Genesis.
The story of this enormous project can be traced back to 1992. He began to reference a number of books and DVDs about Noah’s Ark, and he got some of his information from the Bible as well. His real life ark, however, was constructed in recent years from 2005-2007. It was 230 feet long and weighed in at $1.6 million. He then began sailing around the Netherlands for 3.5 years but it wasn’t the only ark that he constructed.
The first Ark was given to an organization, Ark of Noah, and it continued to sail while Johan turned his attention to building the larger ark. This time, he decided to take a closer look at the instructions that were given in the Bible and he decided that he would go with the exact dimensions that were provided for Noah when he was told to build the ark.
The second arc was 430 feet long, 100 feet wide and 75 feet high. It had seven stories on the inside, weighed 2500 tons and up to 5000 people could fit in it at any given time. Johan built it together with a people using some of the materials that were outlined in the Bible for when Noah built his ark. They also used a number of modern materials to help build it as well.
It cost more than $4 million to construct this arc and it sits on a steel platform that is hidden underneath. That platform was created from 21 barges from old cargo containers. It allow the ark to be towed by tugboats but it can still float around at sea on its own.
With 5 decks on the inside, there was plenty of space so he decided to add some animals. Johan’s were not live animals, however, they were life-size plastic sculptures and they came at a price. The elephants, for example, cost $11,000.
The public was invited to tour the second ark as of 2012. He also added some real animals and a petting zoo to keep the visitors entertained.
He also built a restaurant and 2 film theaters so that people around the world would be more likely to come to see it.
You can see more about it in this video:
His ark had some 280,000 visitors in his first few years of being open to the public. It hold meetings, wedding receptions and special events.
H/T: Faith Tap
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