Ark Encounter
 Noah's Ark at Ark Encounter (2016)
|
|
| Slogan | "It's bigger than imagination" |
|---|---|
| Location | Grant County, Kentucky, United States |
| Coordinates | 38°37′20″N 84°35′32″W / 38.622240°N 84.592282°WCoordinates: 38°37′20″N 84°35′32″W / 38.622240°N 84.592282°W |
| Theme | Noah's Ark |
| Owner | Ark Encounter, LLC |
| Operated by | Answers in Genesis |
| Opened | July 7, 2016 |
| Operating season | Year-round |
| Website | Official website |
| Status | Open |
Ark Encounter is a Christian evangelical and fundamentalist theme park that opened in Grant County, Kentucky on July 7, 2016. The centerpiece of the park is a full-scale model of Noah's Ark from the Genesis flood narrative in the Bible which is 510 feet (155 m) long, 85 feet (26 m) wide, and 51 feet (16 m) high. It is one of only three full-size Noah's Ark replicas and derivatives in the world, and the largest of the three. Ark Encounter is operated by Answers in Genesis (AiG), a Young Earth creationism group that operates the Creation Museum 45 miles (70 km) away in Petersburg, Kentucky. The theme park promotes pseudoscientific theories.
After feasibility studies projected that the park would provide a boon to the state's tourism industry, the Ark Encounter received tax incentives from the city, county, and state to induce its construction. This drew criticism from groups concerned with the separation of church and state. A dispute over AiG's hiring practices was adjudicated in U.S. federal court, which found in 2016 that the organization could require Ark Encounter employees to sign a statement of faith as a condition of their employment, prompting criticism of the park's discriminatory hiring practices.
On arrival, visitors ride a shuttle from the 4,000-space parking lot along a 1 mile (1.6 km) path to the ark. Photo opportunities are provided as visitors approach the Ark from its port side. (The end with the fin is considered the bow, and what may resemble a modern bulbous bow is actually the stern of the structure.) The ark contains 132 bays, each standing about 18 feet (5.5 m) high, arranged into three decks. Visitors enter on the lowest deck and move between decks on ramps constructed through the center of the ark. Bays on the first deck contain models of some animals that AiG believes were on the ark; there are no live animals within the ark. The models are meant to represent "kinds" of animals, which AiG says gave rise to modern animals through a process of rapid speciation following the flood.Dinosaurs are among the models presented. The second deck contains more animal models, along with dioramas of Noah's workshop and a blacksmith. Bays on the third deck contain displays presenting AiG's theories about what may have happened inside and outside the ark during the flood. Displays in three of the bays display artifacts from the Green Collection and promote the Museum of the Bible, a Washington, D.C. attraction currently being constructed by the Green family, who donated to the Ark Encounter's construction.
...
Wikipedia