Noah Lives on in Film and Hunts for and Replicas of the Ark | Middle East And North Africa

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DUTCHMAN BUILDS LIFE-SIZED REPLICA OF NOAH'S ARK

Johan's ark

In 2012, Dutchman Johan Huibers launched a replica of Noah’s ark that measured a whopping 130 meters long, 29 meters wide and 23 meters high. Associated Press reported: “Just as the first storms of winter roll in, Dutchman Johan Huibers has finished his 20-year quest to build a full-scale, functioning model of Noah’s Ark — an undertaking of, well, biblical proportions. Huibers, a Christian, used books 6-9 of Genesis as his inspiration, following the instructions God gives Noah down to the last cubit. Translating to modern measurements, Huibers came up with a vessel that works out to a whopping 427 feet (130 metres) long, 95 feet (29 metres) across and 75 feet (23 metres) high. Perhaps not big enough to fit every species on Earth, two by two, as described in the Bible, but plenty of space, for instance, for a pair elephants to dance a tango. [Source: The Associated Press, December 10, 2012 ++]

“Johan’s Ark towers across the flat Dutch landscape and is easily visible from a nearby highway where it lies moored in the city of Dordrecht, just south of Gazing across the ark’s main hold, a huge space of stalls supported by a forest of pine trees, visitors gaze upon an array of stuffed and plastic animals, such as buffalo, zebra, gorillas, lions, tigers, bears, you name it. Elsewhere on the ark is a petting zoo with actual live animals that are less dangerous or easier to care for — such as ponies, dogs, sheep, and rabbits — and an impressive aviary of exotic birds. “This boat — it’s amazing,” said Alfred Jongile, visiting from South Africa with his Dutch wife. ++

“For Huibers, a builder by trade, it all began with a nightmare he had in 1992, when the low-lying Netherlands was flooded, as it has been many times throughout its history. Huibers thinks that new floods are possible, not least due to global warming. He cites a New Testament passage prophesying that “the cities of the coast shall tremble” near the end of times. But he’s not worried the whole Earth will ever be flooded again. In the Bible, the rainbow is God’s promise it won’t be.” He said his motivation is ultimately religious, though. He wants to make people think what their purpose is on Earth.“I want to make people question that so that they go looking for answers,” and ultimately find salvation through God and eternal life, he said. ++

“Johan’s Ark also contains a restaurant on the topmost level and a movie theatre capable of seating 50 people. Around the edges of each level of the craft are displays on ancient Middle Eastern history and dress, scenes from the life of Noah, and games for kids, including water pumps and a system of levers to lift bales of hay. Down below there is a honeycomb system of hatches, each opening into an area where food could be sealed in for long-term storage. There is an outdoor space near the stern with a dizzying series of stairwells. Walking around, Johan points out features such as the curvature of the upper deck, which he said would have been used to collect rainwater for drinking, as well as for letting animals such as horses out to exercise where they could run around.

Another visitor, Martin Konijn, said he was impressed with the level of detail. “You might know the story of Noah, okay, but if you see this you begin to get an idea of how it would actually have worked in practice.” Huibers says he’s considering where to take the floating attraction next, including European ports or even across the Atlantic — though the latter would require transport aboard an even bigger ship. But Huibers is also working on a new dream, perhaps even more unlikely than the first one: he wants to get Israelis and Arabs to co-operate and build a water pipeline from the Mediterranean Sea to the Dead Sea. “If you have faith, anything is possible,” he says.” ++

Noah’s Ark Looks Different Than We Picture It

20120504-Noah A_Dove_Is_Sent_Forth_from_the_Ark.jpg
A Dove Is Sent Forth from the Ark
Nick Fraser wrote in The Guardian, “The ark didn’t look boxy, with a raised prow and a wide gangplank for the animals. It is more likely to have been circular, made out of massive reeds waterproofed with bitumen. These are the craft that until recently were rowed up and down the Euphrates. How to build one without perishing is one of the many delightful features of this account of the Flood story. (The answer is that you get your servants to do the work, organising a feast for them as the floodwaters rise.) [Source: Nick Fraser, The Guardian, November 9, 2014 /+/]

The tablet describes a huge vessel, two-thirds the size of a soccer field, with high walls and made with so much rope that “stretched out in a line would reach from London to Edinburgh.” Finkel said that a circular vessel would be a “perfect thing,” because it “never sinks, it’s light to carry.” He also contends that his discovery does not provide evidence supporting the Biblical story of Noah’s ark, instead saying the tale was likely passed down from Babylon. “I’m sure the story of the flood and a boat to rescue life is a Babylonian invention,” he said. “I don’t think the ark existed — but a lot of people do. “It doesn’t really matter. The Biblical version is a thing of itself and it has a vitality forever.” [Source: Oliver Darcy, The Blaze, January 25, 2014] Tom Chivers wrote in The Telegraph, The most interesting revelation from the Simmonds tablet is that the Ark, as originally conceived, was not how we picture it. “We all know what Noah’s Ark looked like – a boat, with a house on it, and a high prow and a high stern,” says Finkel. “You could sail to New York in it if you liked. But the Ark didn’t have to go in a direction, it just had to survive the flood.” In essence, it would have been a giant life raft: circular, and almost impossible to sink. “It was a coracle,” says Finkel: a kind of round boat of rope around a wood frame. “Half the people in Mesopotamia were professional boat people, so when someone told them this story, and said, imagine the biggest boat you ever saw, they must have asked: what did it look like?” What is incredible is that the tablet has detailed instructions how to build this enormous coracle, 70ft across, six yards high, even down to the length of rope required. “It’s about the distance from London to Edinburgh,” says Finkel, who had a mathematician check the working and found that it was correct to within one per cent. [Source: Tom Chivers, The Telegraph, January 19, Jan 2014]

Replica of Noah's Ark in Kentucky

In the U.S. state of Kentucky a Christian group called Answers in Genesis said it would build another replica of Noah’s Ark. Dylan T. Lovan of Associated Press wrote: “Tucked away in a nondescript office park in northern Kentucky in the US, Noah's followers are rebuilding his ark. The biblical wooden ship built to weather a worldwide flood was 152 meters long and about 24m high, according to Answers in Genesis, a Christian ministry devoted to a literal telling of the Old Testament. This modern ark, to be nestled on a plot of 320 hectares of rolling Kentucky farmland, isn't designed to rescue the world's creatures from a coming deluge. It's to tell the world that the Bible's legendary flood story was not a fable, but a part of human history. "The message here is, God's word is true," said Mike Zovath, project manager of the ark. "There's a lot of doubt: 'Could Noah have built a boat this big, could he have put all the animals on the boat?' Those are questions people all over the country ask." [Source: Dylan T. Lovan, Associated Press, August 17, 2011 /=]

“The ark will be the centrepiece of a proposed US$155 million religious theme park, called the Ark Encounter, and will include other biblical icons like the Tower of Babel and an old world-style village. It's an expansion of the ministry's first major public attraction, the controversial Creation Museum. It opened in 2007 and attracted worldwide attention for presenting stories from the Bible as historical fact, challenging evolution and asserting that the earth was created about 6000 years ago. "The ark is really a different approach" than the museum, Zovath said. "It's really not about creation-evolution, it's about the authority of the Bible starting with the ark account in Genesis." /=\

“Inside the ark's headquarters in Hebron, a small team of artists and designers are working on the visuals at the new park, but once the project begins early next year, there will be hundreds at the creation, including a team of Amish builders from Indiana who will erect the giant ark. Many of the same people who helped design the museum are on board for the ark project, including Patrick Marsh, who helped build some of the attractions at Universal Studios in Florida. /=\

Ark Encounter in Kentucky

“Zovath said the ark will have old-world details, like wooden pegs instead of nails, straight-sawed timbers and plenty of animals - some alive, some robotic like The Creation Museum's dinosaurs. He said it has not yet been determined how many live animals will be in the boat during visiting hours, but the majority will be stuffed or animatronic. At their count, Noah had anywhere from 2000 to 4000 on board. /=\

“There are a handful of replica arks around the world, but Zovath said this one will be authentic inside and out. "When you get to walk through the boat and see how big this thing really was, and how many cages were there, and how much room there was for food and water ... our hope is people start seeing that this is plausible, that the account could be believed," Zovath. A longtime critic of the Answers in Genesis ministry argues the attraction will bring in converts to creationism by challenging scientific findings about the world's history./=\

"Many think that since creationism is so irrational and so unscientific that nobody really could believe it, but that's not so," said Edwin Kagin, a lawyer in northern Kentucky who is president of a nationwide atheist group. The new park will be "so slick and so well done, you can get people to believe in anything. Creationism, when you're ready to believe anything." Some in the state hope it will be a major attraction. A feasibility study on the Ark Encounter declared that the park would attract 1.6 million visitors in its first year, Zovath said. The smaller Creation Museum has attracted well over a million people since it opened four years ago. /=\

“State officials are banking on the park's success and the 900 jobs it is expected to create, by making the project eligible for more than US$40m in sales tax rebates if the Ark Encounter hits its attendance marks. Tying state incentives to a religious theme park has also attracted some criticism, though notably less than The Creation Museum, which received no state support. That facility was built on private donations. Americans United for Separation of Church and State, a Washington-based group, has said the park would run afoul of constitutional law. "Noah didn't get government help when he built the first ark, and the fundamentalist ministry behind the Kentucky replica shouldn't either," the group said in a statement. But so far they have taken no legal action.” /=\

Other Noah’s Arc Replicas and Theme Parks

models of Tyrannosaurus rexes in Ark Encounte

Dylan T. Lovan of Associated Press wrote: “The Ark Encounter won't be the nation's first theme park inspired by the Bible, or the first with Noah's big boat. A park in tourism-rich Orlando, Fla., features a portrayal of the crucifixion by actors six days a week, along with Jesus' resurrection and gospel concerts. The Holy Land Experience opened in 2001, but the nonprofit park struggled with debt before it was taken over by Trinity Broadcasting Network in 2007. [Source: Dylan T. Lovan, Associated Press, August 17, 2011 /=]

“Other replicas of Noah's famous ship have been built around the world. A huge fiberglass ark sits at the center of a Hong Kong Noah's Ark attraction, and another floating ark in the Netherlands is being built by a Dutch man, who wants to sail it to London for the 2012 Olympic games. Closer to home, a church in Frostburg, Md., is building a to-scale ark supported by a steel frame. /=\

“But attractions with religious themes can be a risky venture, according to an amusement park expert. "In some ways it's a two-edged sword: If you go for the religious market, you already have something that is somewhat unique in the market, and that particular market is known to be willing to make a special effort, to drive an extra distance, to get the church groups to go out and make a special outing," said John Gerner, managing director of Leisure Business Advisors of Richmond, Virginia. "The problem with that approach is you always risk bordering on being disrespectful if not sacrilegious," Gerner said. "There is a line as far as what you can do in this approach."

Noah the No. 1 U.S. Baby Name in 2013

in 2013, Noah beat out Jacob and became the most popular U.S. baby name for boys in 2013, ending Jacob’s 14-year run at the top. Sophia was the most popular baby name for girls for the third straight year. The Social Security Administration announced the most popular baby names Friday. Noah was followed by Liam, Jacob, Mason and William. Sophia was followed by Emma, Olivia, Isabella and Ava. [Source: Associated Press, May 10, 2014 =/=]

Associated Press reported: “The rise of Noah and Liam highlights a trend toward more smooth-sounding baby names, said Laura Wattenberg, creator of Babynamewizard.com. “You compare Jacob with all its hard, punchy consonants, versus Noah and Liam, you can really see where style is heading,” Wattenberg said. She also noted that the most popular baby names aren’t nearly as popular as they used to be. For example, a little more than 18,000 babies born last year were named Noah. In 1950, when James was No. 1, there were more than 86,000 newborns with that name.=/=

“Jacob first rose to No. 1 in 1999. In the 45 years before that, Michael was king for all but one. The Social Security Administration’s website provides lists of the top 1,000 baby names for each year, dating to 1880. The top baby names that year were John and Mary. John is now No. 27 and Mary has fallen to No. 121. Social Security also charts the fastest-rising names each year. These names may not be in the top 10 or even the top 100, but they moved up more spots than any other. For boys, the fastest rising name was Jayceon, which jumped 845 spots, to No. 206. Two hip-hop artists are named Jayceon. One simply goes by the name Jayceon. The other, Jayceon Terrell Taylor, is a rapper who goes by the stage name The Game.” =/=

Looking for Noah's Ark

Mount Ararat
Mount Ararat — a 16,945 foot-high composite volcano located in the northeast corner of Turkey near Iran and Armenia — is said to be the final resting place of Noah's Ark, a belief that arose perhaps because it so high it seems like the first place that would emerge from a flood. Many adventurers have climbed the mountain and returned with unexplained pieces of wood above tree-line and other "evidence" of the Ark's existence. During Byzantine times a monk on a pilgrimage to Mt. Ararat was allegedly handed a plank from the Ark by an angel. That plank now rests in a church below the mountain. In 1670 a Dutch monk looking for the Ark on Ararat said he not only discovered it, he found a hermit living inside it who cured him of an illness. In 1829 a German scientist found nothing. Seventy years later however a Christian from India said he found the ark wedged into a rock and filled with snow and ice.

In 1949 a CIA spy plane returning from missions over the Soviet Union photographed what appeared to be the outline of an ancient vessel on Mt. Ararat and continued to photograph it for 40 years but kept quiet on the issue, saying it did not want to get involved in a religious dispute. In 1950s the ark was supposedly photographed emerging from a glacier by a helicopter. In the 1970s Skylab reportedly saw it from outer space. Material evidence includes a nine-foot-long timber brought back in 1930 by a New Zealand climber and a piece of carved wood, purported to be 3000-year-old, found in 1956 by a French explorer. Geologist have found rocks with holes that resemble “drogue stones” which ancient ships dragged behind them for stability.

One of the latest claimants was George Jammal, a Frenchman who asserted, in an 1993 CBS television documentary, that he had found a large wooden structure during a 1984 expedition on Mt. Ararat, with a "room made into pens, like places where you keep animals." Presenting a piece of wood as evidence he proclaimed, "We knew that we had found ark!" Unfortunately, he said, the friend that was with him, and the film he shot, were buried in an avalanche. Later it was discovered that the Jammal was an actor who had never been to Mt. Ararat, and the "hunk of ark" was a piece of pine he doctored up in the kitchen of his California home. The documentary that featured Jamal also claimed that Biblical Age people used batteries and had air-conditioning, and that the Great Flood was caused by a subterranean explosion as powerful as 10 million hydrogen bombs that released vast chambers of underground water into the air like gargantuan geysers.

In the late 1990s, an Italian explorer claimed he found Noah’s Ark on Mt. Ararat after searching for days on foot and with a donkey. The boat he found he said was 156 meters long and was frozen in a glacier in the mountain 4,000 years ago. His evidence was some grainy photographs. Around the same time two Australian scientists sued creationist Allen Roberts for deception when he said he found evidence of Noah’s Ark 20 miles from Mt. Ararat. A judge dismissed the case.

Archaeologists Say They Might Have Found Noah’s Ark

In November 2023, archaeologists announced that they may have discovered the final resting place of Noah’s Ark on Turkey’s Mount Ararat based on rock and soil samples taken from the mountains that show human activity and and marine materials that corresponds with dates of Noah’s adventure. Tim Newcomb wrote: Researchers from a trio of universities in Turkey and the United States have spent roughly a year analyzing the rock and soil in the famous Durupinar formation on Mount Ararat, the highest mountain in Turkey. They believe that the boat-shaped site may hold the ruins of the legendary Noah’s Ark. [Source: Tim Newcomb, Good Housekeeping, November 23, 2023]

Researchers now believe they’ve found evidence of human activity near the boat-shaped formation in the mountains from between 5500 and 3000 B.C.. Faruk Kaya, AICU vice rector professor, says that analyzing rocks and soil from the uniquely shaped area on the mountain shows human activity in the region, timed to the years following the flood in the legend of Noah’s Ark. “In terms of dating, it is stated that there was life in this region as well,” Kaya says, according to The Daily Mail. “This was revealed in the laboratory results.”

Human activity, however, does not a Biblical account prove. The Durupinar formation has been put forth as a potential ark resting place for many years, and has received extensive attention from those hoping to find Noah’s Ark. Despite the hype, archaeologists have consistently reaffirmed over the years that the formation is natural, not the result of a petrified shipwreck, and that there is no geologic record of a global flood like the one described in religious texts. Some believe that a more local flood may have been possible, but that is also debated.

The team says it isn’t currently possible to say that Noah’s Ark itself was at the Durupinar site. “With the dating, it is not possible to say that the ship is here,” Faruk Kaya, one of the researchers on the project, said according to Turkish news publication Hurriyet. “We need to work for a long time to reveal this. In the next period, we agreed to carry out a joint study under the leadership of ITU, Andrew University and AICU. Three universities will continue their work in this field in the future.”

For now, the scientists point to the evidence in the soil of “clayey materials, marine materials, and seafood,” according to Hurriyet, within the geological formation as evidence. The team of researchers placed a renewed focus on the region in 2021 by exploring varying geological areas — including the Durupinar formation, which is made of limonite that bears resemblance to a ship like Noah’s Ark. Further exploration led the team to take the rock and soil samples from the country’s highest peaks for laboratory analysis.

Noah, the Film

Noah is a 2014 American epic biblical drama film directed by Darren Aronofsky and inspired by the Biblical story of Noah's Ark from the Book of The film, which was co-written by Aronofsky and Ari Handel, stars Russell Crowe as Noah, along with Jennifer Connelly, Emma Watson, Ray Winstone, Logan Lerman, Douglas Booth, and Anthony Hopkins. The film was released in North American theaters on March 28, 2014, in 2D and IMAX, while a version of the film converted to 3D and IMAX 3D was released in several other countries. [Source: Wikipedia +]

“Noah received generally positive reviews from critics and grossed over $362 million worldwide, making it Aronofsky's highest-grossing film to date. It was praised for its direction and performances, but generated controversy and was banned in several Muslim countries because it was seen as contradicting the teachings of Islam. +

Matt Zoller Seitz wrote in rogerebert.com: “"Noah" is a bizarre movie. It's a modern blockbuster, chock full of the visual and aural and narrative tics we expect from modern blockbusters: flash-cut nightmares and hallucinations, prophecies and old wise men, predictions of apocalypse and a savior's rise, computer-generated monsters with galumphing feet and deep voices, brawny men punching and stabbing each other, and crowd scenes and floods and circling aerial views of enormous structures being built, scored to tom-toms and men chanting and women wailing. But wait: this is not the latest Marvel Comics epic. Nor is it a standard-issue messianic sci-fi film along the lines of "Star Wars" or "The Matrix." "Noah" is more of a surrealist nightmare disaster picture fused to a parable of human greed and compassion, all based on the bestselling book of all time, the Bible, mainly the Book of Genesis. More specifically, "Noah" is writer-director Darren Aronofksy's interpretation of the story of Noah and the flood. He's made a few changes. [Source: Matt Zoller Seitz, rogerebert.com, March 28, 2014 ^]

“Okay, more than a few. Way more. This is the Book of Genesis after a page one rewrite. Among other things, Aronofsky has stirred in ideas from earlier film versions of Noah's story, plus bits from other religions and mythologies, including the Kabbalah, pre-Christian paganism and, it would appear, J.R.R. Tolkien and "The Neverending Story." And he's worked in what comic books or long-form TV watchers would term "callbacks" to earlier parts of the Old Testament, including the slaying of Abel by his brother Cain, the death of Noah's father Lamech, and Adam and Eve's ejection from the Garden of Eden. The film's most visually inventive sequence is an ellipsis in the main narrative: a self-contained, time lapse retelling of the birth of the universe—essentially a Big Bang story that could be dropped right into either version of the great science show "Cosmos." And of course, the international cast speaks with English accents, or tries to, English accents being Hollywood's way of conveying "foreignness" or "antiquity" without making ticket buyers read subtitles. All the actors have elegantly sculpted eyebrows and gorgeous hair, particularly Russell Crowe's Noah, who in one scene sports a teased-up 'do that makes him look like a beefy version of Christopher Walken in "The King of New York." ^

'Noah' Banned in Several Arab Countries

God appears to Noah and his family

The film “Noah” was banned in several Muslim countries for being disrespectful and contradicting the teachings of Islam. Noah Browning of Reuters wrote: “Three Arab countries have banned the Hollywood film “Noah” on religious grounds even before its worldwide premiere and several others are expected to follow suit, a representative of Paramount Pictures told Reuters. Islam frowns upon representing holy figures in art and depictions of the Prophet Mohammad. “Censors for Qatar, Bahrain and the UAE (United Arab Emirates) officially confirmed this week that the film will not release in their countries.,” a representative of Paramount Pictures told Reuters. “The official statement they offered in confirming this news is because ‘it contradicts the teachings of Islam’,” the representative said, adding the studio expected a similar ban in Egypt, Jordan and Kuwait. [Source: Noah Browning, Reuters, March 8, 2014 ^^^]

“Cairo’s Al-Azhar, the highest authority of Sunni Islam and a main center of Islamic teaching for over a millennium, issued a fatwa, or religious injunction, against the film. “Al-Azhar ... renews its objection to any act depicting the messengers and prophets of God and the companions of the Prophet (Mohammad), peace be upon him,” it announced in a statement. They “provoke the feelings of believers ... and are forbidden in Islam and a clear violation of Islamic law,” the fatwa added. ^^^

“Mel Gibson’s 2004 film “The Passion of the Christ” on Jesus’s crucifixion was widely screened in the Arab World, despite a flurry of objections by Muslim clerics. A 2012 Arab miniseries “Omar” on the exploits of a seventh century Muslim ruler and companion of the Prophet Mohammad also managed to defy clerics’ objections and air on a Gulf-based satellite television channel. Jerry A. Johnson, president of a conservative National Religious Broadcasters (NRB) group, said he wanted to “make sure everyone who sees this impactful film knows this is an imaginative interpretation of Scripture, and not literal.” Paramount responded by agreeing to issue a disclaimer on advertising for the film.

Image Sources: Wikimedia, Commons, Schnorr von Carolsfeld Bible in Bildern, 1860

Text Sources: Internet Jewish History Sourcebook sourcebooks.fordham.edu “World Religions” edited by Geoffrey Parrinder (Facts on File Publications, New York); “ Encyclopedia of the World’s Religions” edited by R.C. Zaehner (Barnes & Noble Books, 1959); “Old Testament Life and Literature” by Gerald A. Larue, New International Version (NIV) of The Bible, biblegateway.com; Wikipedia, National Geographic, BBC, New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Smithsonian magazine, Times of London, The New Yorker, Reuters, AP, AFP, Lonely Planet Guides, and various books and other publications.

Last updated March 2024