Like many of us, Johan Huibers has always loved the story of Noah’s ark. He began reading the biblical story to his children in the 1990s, and the Dutch father soon decided it would be cool to build the ark himself.
“It may sound scary, but I believe everything written in this book, cover to cover,” he said while pointing at a copy of a translation into Dutch of the Hebrew Bible. “This is a copy of God’s ship. It only makes sense to take it to God’s land.”
In 1993, Johan decided to start building the ark in his free time. It took him thirteen long years, but in 2006, he was finally finished with his modern version of the ark!
While Johan was proud of himself, he was still not totally satisfied, as his ark was only half the size of Noah’s. He realized that he had a lot more work to do, and that he could not do it alone, so he hired a team of amateur carpenters to help him.
In 2012, 19 years after he started this journey, Johan’s ark was finally complete!
Though he believes he spent $1.6 million on the ark, he admits it is not perfect, as his team is not made up of professionals.
“We’re not professional boatmakers. A lot of stuff here is a bit crooked,” he said.
Nevertheless, experts believe his ark is what Noah’s would have looked like, as Johan followed the exact description of the ark that is in the Bible. It is also believed to be seaworthy, and though Johan planned to sail it to Israel, the one problem is that it has no engine. Johan’s initial plan was to rent tugboats to sail it.
Johan is now planning to rent his ark out to various cities, so you may get to see it for yourself in a city near you too!
Take a tour of Johan’s ark in the video below!