A life-sized replica of Noah’s Ark may soon be hitting the Atlantic Ocean — but don’t worry, there’s no forecast for genocidal floods (that we know of).
The Dutch ship’s creator has announced plans to move the massive vessel, with the help of a barge, from its port in the Netherlands to Brazil this summer as part of a multi-country tour.
Carpenter Johan Huibers, who completed the biblical boat in 2012 as a religious attraction, said he hopes its 6,000-mile journey to South, Central and North America will help spread the message of the Bible.
“We want to allow thousands of people who are living in Brazil, underprivileged and orphan children, to experience the hope that comes from this Bible story from the Bible that’s brought to life,” Huibers says in a video posted to the Ark of Noah’s website.
According to the foundation’s page, Huibers decided to build the mega ship after dreaming that his homeland was flooded by a storm, like one that led to the creation of Noah’s ark as told in the Book of Genesis.
Taking a chapter straight out of the Old Testament, Huibers said he crafted his modern-day ark using the same measurements used by Noah.
It’s described as being larger than a football field, stretching 410 feet long, 95 feet wide and 75 feet tall. It weighs 2,500 tons and is said to hold more than 5,000 people at one time. But hold your horses as there doesn’t appear to be any plan to stock the ark with animals, two-by-two.
As for it being a potential omen of impending flash-flood rains that will wipe out nearly all of civilization (like in the Bible), Huibers says his ark will serve as a “journey of hope.”
Fans can catch sight of and even tour the ark in Rio de Janerio this summer.
After a two to four-year stay, the foundation hopes to swing by Montevideo, Buenos Aires, Havana, Panama, and Colombia. The ark will then ideally head north, making stops in San Diego, Long Beach, San Francisco and Seattle, according to the foundation’s website.