Doomsday dream prompts builder to create Noah’s Ark

Agencies

Amsterdam, 24 June 2011: A doomsday dream about massive flooding prompted Dutch man Johan Huibers to build a huge Noah’s Ark, which he plans to float down London’s River Thames.

 

Johan, the head of a construction company in Dordrecht, western Netherlands, started work on the four-storey tall ship three years ago after a night-time vision that came to him some 20 years ago.

 

“I dreamt that a part of Holland was flooded,” the 60-year-old explained to NBC’s Today Show in the US. “The next day, I got the idea to build an ark.”

Johan’s Ark is 450 feet long and weighs 2,970 tonnes. It is built of Swedish pine, which Huibers told The New York Times is in keeping with God’s command to Noah that the ark be built of resin wood. It has two conference rooms capable of holding 1,500 people. 

 

That makes it roughly the same dimensions as the ark of biblical fame. True to the Book of Genesis’ tale of Noah, Johan’s Ark features life-size replicas of animals — including pairs of giraffes, zebras, cows and donkeys, and an elephant that cost $11,000 (Rs 4,93,000). There are also live chickens on board.

 

The ark’s creator reckons it could eventually become a type of museum that inspires people to read the Bible. In 2007, Johan had opened a smaller Noah’s Ark as a tourist attraction, drawing more than 6,00,000 worldwide visitors in approximately three years.

 

Johan spent three years and $1.6 million (Rs 7 crore)  to build the new ark which is partly financed by the takings of the first ark as well as donations and loans. Now he’s asked the Mayor of London for permission to sail the ark along the Thames for the 2012 Olympics Games.