AN ARK OF BIBLICAL PROPORTIONS

A gigantic life-size recreation of Noah’s Ark is being built in a theme park in Williamstown, northern Kentucky.

The Christian organisers, Answers in Genesis, say the all-wood ark is being built to the dimensions provided for the original ark in the bible at a cost of $91.5 million (around £60 million).

The opening date will be 7/7 next year to correspond with Genesis 7:7 when Noah and his family are said to have entered the ark.

They will limit admission numbers for the first 40 days and 40 nights, the length of the flood in the Bible. Though the animals won’t be entering two by two, there will be a petting zoo.

The ark will have three decks containing a restaurant and a theatre. There are plans to add a Tower of babel and a walled city.

This is not the first biblical theme park. The Suoi Tien in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, a Buddist theme park, opened in 1995. Water slides and sculptures are styled as dragons, tortoises and phoenixes. However, the Palace of Unicorns is a representation of the Buddhist vision of hell. In Singapore, the Haw Par Villa, built in 1937, has a notorious depiction of the 10 courts of hell. Chinese mythology and warnings of punishments are depicted for various ethical faux-pas.

Orlando has the Holy Land Experience which promises biblical sights and sounds that take you “7,000 miles away and 2,000 years back in time” according to its website.

Israel has one too. The Kings City Eilat offers caves that feature King Solomon’s life, underground biblical scenes, 3D movies, water slides and hippotamuses that spray water.

A life size Noah’s Ark is being recreated to historical dimensions