Although Ken Ham of the Christian apologist group Answers in Genesis is not expecting a giant flood that will destroy the world anytime soon, he is going ahead and building an ark anyway.
Ham's life-size replica of Noah's Ark, the Ark Encounter, is being built in Williamstown, Ky., according to the size requirements given to Moses from God found in the Bible (300 cubits). According to CBS, the completed ark will 120,000 square feet, which is larger than the White House (55,000 square feet).
An Amish labor force is building the ark, which is made out of 3.3 million feet of wooden board. Although it seems like the Ark Encounter is trying to be as historically accurate as possible, power tools are still being used to make the structure.
The ark costs $102 million to construct and is being paid for by donations, junk bonds, and tax rebates from the state of Kentucky.
According to Ham, the ark will be the largest timber-framed structure in the world when it is completed.
The inside of the ark will include a museum and a fun center. It will contain 30 pairs of life-sized animal models (including bears, giraffes, and, controversially, a pair of T-rexes), an animatronic Noah, and a total of 132 exhibit bays to interact with. Live animals were originally going to replace the models, but that idea was scrapped when there was not enough room to house them.
Ham hopes the Ark Encounter will be a world-class attraction. A 2015 study conducted by a consulting firm hired by Answers in Genesis estimates the ark will attract about 2 million visitors to the park every year and create 21,000 jobs. Ham claims it will be “one of the greatest evangelistic outreaches of our era of history.”
The ark will have exhibits that will help answer questions about Noah's ark, including whether it's possible to keep so many animals alive on a boat for such a long time, what a cubit actually is, and if a boat of that magnitude could float.
“We are an overtly Christian Organization--we don’t hide that fact,” said Ham. He hopes that the Ark Encounter, which is affiliated with his Creationist Museum, will get “people actually talking about the Bible and the message of Christianity.”
“We’re becoming more like the days of Noah in that we see increasing secularization in the culture,” Ham said.
Many people have been talking about the ark, but not for the reason Ham wants. Some have questioned the $18 million tax incentives that Kentucky officials have given to Ark Encounters. Ten million of the funding went to building a highway exit for the ark.
Kentucky officials even tried to reverse the incentives they gave the park because of its religious nature. The court ruled trying to block the tax incentives violated Answers in Genesis' First Amendment rights.
If the ark exhibit is a success, which Ham believes it will be, there are plans for a walled city, a first-century Middle Eastern village, a large petting zoo, aviary, and a recreation of the Tower of Babel. It is not known if the Tower of Babel will be a full scale model or not.
The ark will be open to visitors on July 7, and lies about 30 miles south of Cincinnati. Tickets for the park are $40 for adults and $28 for children.