Will Noah's ark finally end up in the Negev desert?

The story of Noah’s Ark is famous. However, not many have seen the ship ‘in real’. Johan Huibers from the Netherlands wanted to change that. In 2007, he started building a smaller replica. Later that year, he decided he wanted to make a copy of the ark according to the actual Biblical measures and description. Since 2012, people have been able to visit the ark and see the Biblical history of the flood unfold before their eyes.

However, after its closure, the project has become too expensive for Huibers. In an earlier interview with CVandaag, he said that it costed him 300,000 euros per year without having a steady income. Now, the situation has become so untenable that he decided to sell the ark.

Mission

For a while, it was unclear whether people were interested in buying the ship. However, for Huibers, the final outcome could have been much worse. Instead of losing his whole share in the ark, he has been able to retain part of the ownership of the vessel. And even more, the new co-owner shares his mission of telling people about the story of the flood.

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Now, the ark is to set sail for Israel. With that, a dream comes true, says Dutch investor Daniël Vandy, who acquired a share in the ark from Huibers, to the Dutch daily Reformatorisch Dagblad. Vandy wants to open the ark for public in Israel. “Jews, Arabs and European peoples are closely related. They have the story of the flood in Genesis as a common denominator. We want to draw broad attention to that. We also want to tell visitors about other Bible stories through the broadcasting of videos in as many languages as possible.”

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Earlier, Vandy told the Reformatorisch Dagblad that he wants to tell the Biblical story to people in Israel. “It was God's escape route to save people and creation.”

In addition, he believes that the ark can serve as a connection between Jews, Christians and Muslims, as they are all familiar with the flood story. “I hope the ark can connect them and make God’s Word and majesty visible.”

In vain

So far, it was not easy for Vandy to realise his dream of bringing the ark to Israel. At first, the ship was sold via an auction. However, the cost of that was over 200,000 euros. And the investor did not want to spend so much on just the auction costs. “We received our capital via donations to buy the ark, not to cover auction costs”, he tells the Reformatorisch Dagblad. Therefore, his plan to buy the ark seemed to be in vain.

Yet, things changed unexpectedly. The auction did not result in the desired price for the ark, and builder Johan Huibers decided to start separate talks to see if he could sell the ark without auctioning it. “That’s God’s guidance, 100 per cent sure of that”, Vandy says about that.

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The course of events offered him the opportunity to get a share in the ark without having to pay the auction. In exchange for paying off the debts of Huibers, Vandy is now the co-owner of the ship.

An Israeli investor already showed willingness earlier to donate 3.5 million euros to his dream of bringing the ark to Israel. He could not immediately release the money, but a Dutch investor promised to provide 1 million euros in advance to cover the costs as long as the Israeli investor cannot pay.

Yet, another hurdle was to be taken. Unexpectedly, the Dutch investor asked for more time to think about his earlier offer. When he phoned, he did what his heart told him to do, Vandy tells the Reformatorisch Dagblad. However, when the investor saw the complexity of the operation, he found it difficult to make a decision right on the spot. A couple of days later, however, on December 27, the investor decided that he would go through with the plan nevertheless.

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Renovations

Thus, the way to Israel seems to be opened for the ark. But first, the ship needs some heavy renovations, the Nederlands Dagblad reports. For example, the bow and the stern are weathered, and some parts need replacement. Furthermore, investor Vandy wants to make the ship self-sufficient when it comes to its energy usage.

Besides, the Israeli investor requires air-conditioning for the whole vessel to make it suitable as a museum in the warm climate of Israel. The information boards of the exposition will be translated into several languages so people from different countries can read them.

Huibers himself is involved in the restoration, and dozens of volunteers have already come forward to help with the renovation. It is supposed to be finished by April 2025.

Easter

Around Easter, the Netherlands will be able to say goodbye to the ship that has been stationed in that country since it was built. For three weeks, the ark will stay in the harbour of Rotterdam. After that, it will go on a tour before docking at its final destination in Israel. In total, the ark will be visiting twenty destinations, CVandaag reports. People can visit the ship in Dover, Antwerp, Dunkirk, Le Havre, Bordeaux, Biarritz, Lisbon and several cities around the Mediterranean Sea.

After docking in Malta and Cyprus, the ark will set course to the Israeli cities of Haifa and Tel Aviv. If everything goes according to plan, it will arrive in Israel in January 2026. There, in Tel Aviv-Jaffa, it will be restored to its original function: as a museum that tells and shows the history of the flood.

The ark will not truly come home, Vandy admits to the Reformatorisch Dagblad. “Then, we would have to bring it to Ararat. Or to the desert where Noah built it. Some Jewish people I spoke with suggested that we should bring it to the Negev desert. But that only shows that they have no idea of how big the ark is.”