The Americas, Editor’s Pick



Christian group building a US$92 million ‘to-scale’ replica of Noah’s Ark has announced it will open to the public on 7 July 2016. The date is a biblical reference to Genesis 7:7.

Exhibit at the Creation Museum, St Petersburg, Kentucky.

Exhibit at the Creation Museum, Petersburg, Kentucky. Image by Joel Kramer / CC BY 2.0

The biblical description of the ark is given in cubits. One of the challenges of building a replica is deciding how long a cubit ought to be – there are some 20 different hypotheses. This ark, located in Williamstown, northern Kentucky, will be 154m (510ft) long and 15m (50ft) high. These dimensions, intended to be as faithful as possible to the description in Genesis, are based on research in the 1961 book, The Genesis Flood.

The Christian group,  ‘Answers in Genesis’ previously developed the $27 million Creation Museum in Kentucky in 2007. Australian Ken Ham, leader and founder of the group, believes that the Old Testament should be read literally. Ham is quoted in a local report admitting that many Christian-themed tourist attractions in the past have been cheesy, promising this attraction will match the quality of Universal Studios. Adult tickets will be $40.

Genesis is the first book in the scriptures of both Jews and Christians. The Great Flood is described in detail: 500 year-old Noah is entrusted with building an ark to hold the male and female of every species on Earth after God decides the world is too full of depravities and sends a flood to destroy (almost) everything and start over. Creationists believe the creation of the universe dates back about 6000 years. The flood described in Genesis is thought to have occurred in 2348 BC. In between, humans shared the earth with dinosaurs, which did not make it on to the ark.

Ironically, some scientists have speculated the origins of the Bible’s description of the flood  lie in the collapse of the Bosphorus sill separating the Black Sea from the Mediterranean around 5600 BC.

Faith-based tourism is hardly new: pilgrimages were a feature of the ancient world, and Europe’s great cathedrals of the Middle Ages were, in part, tourist destinations. These days there are several arks and creation museums throughout the world, especially in the US.